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NEW JERSEY
AND
THE REBELLION:
A
HISTORY OF THE SERVICES OF THE TROOPS AND PEOPLE OF
NEW JERSEY IN AID-OF THE UNION CAUSE.
BY
JOHN Y. POSTER.
PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE STATE.
NEWARK, N. J.:
MARTIN R. DENNIS & CO.
1 8 6 8.




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by
M. R. DENNIS  &  CO.,
In the Clerk's Office of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
NEWARK DAILY ADVERTISER PRINT.




PREFACE.
THE story of New Jersey's part in the War for the Union, recorded in the
following pages, has been written under many and serious difficulties. While
the writer has in some cases been furnished with ample materials, in many
others he has not been able to procure any official data whatever, while in
nearly every instance he has found the testimony so conflicting and uncertain
that it has been impossible to reach any really satisfactory conclusion. Compelled in some cases to examine hundreds of pages of manuscript to arrive at
a single fact, and in others to travel scores of miles in quest of some authority
which, when found, proved worthless or untrustworthy, the labor of gathering
up the stray hints, the vague personal narratives, and the official statements
out of which this Book is constructed, has been from first to last infinitely
greater than any reader will conceive. But to the writer, this work, with all
its embarassments and discouragements, and responsible as it proved, has been
one of genuine pleasure; and if he has been so fortunate as to preserve any
facts as to the gallantry of our troops, or the patriotism of our people, which
might otherwise have been lost, he is wholly content.
In whatever else the record may be deficient, it certainly will be found to
present conclusive evidences of the superiority of the troops who represented
us in the field. No soldiers in all the armies of the Republic fought with
grander courage, or clung more steadfastly or with loftier faith to the Cause,
than those who in every combat were girt about with memories of Princeton
and Monmouth, and strengthened by the love of liberty that nowhere grows
more robustly than on those revolutionary fields. Whether in the East or
West, on the march or in the thick of battle; whether leading a forlorn hope
or toiling in the trenches, New Jersey troops were found always brave,
patient, faithful, obedient. Regarded at first by many commanders with a
prejudice almost amounting to contempt, they literally fought their way into
universal favor, coming at last to stand with the best and most popular
troops of the service, insomuch that the very men who had at the outset spoken of them most meanly, contended, in later years, for the honor of leading
them to battle.  "Give us a brigade of these Jerseymen, and we'll beat the
enemy still," cried Senator Wade, as he stood on the heights of Centreville,
while the retreating columns from the first Bull Run drifted past him; and
more than once in after campaigns that same appeal, from commanders in sore
straits, attested the universal confidence reposed in the battle-beaten veterans
who, all the way from that first shameful day down to the hour when Johnston




iv                             PREFACE.
vainly essayed at Bentonville to shake the lines of the brave Thirteenth, never,
on one single occasion, faltered or turned away from obvious duty.
The plan of this work did not contemplate the incorporation of sketches of
individual men, and I do not pretend that every Jerseyman who deserves
honorable mention is named on these pages. There are hundreds, no doubt,
as brave and true as any of those whose services are recorded, whose deeds
have no mention here. But every man, whether officer or private, who exhibited conspicuous bravery in the field, of whom I have been able to procure
trustworthy report, is herein held up to public view. I have been, especially
careful to preserve every instance of gallantry on the part of privates, feeling
that these deserved to have their deeds perpetuated no less than those more
fortunate ones, whose names so often shone in bulletins from gory fields.
To the many persons, not only in this State, but in other parts of the Union
-in the South as well as the North-who have assisted me in my labors, I
tender my sincere acknowledgments. I owe special thanks to the Chaplain of
the Sixteenth Regiment, from whose unpublished narrative of the exploits of
that command I have largely drawn. I am also largely indebted to AdjutantGeneral Stockton and his successor, General W. S. Stryker, as well as to
Quartermaster-General Perrine, whose administration of his bureau during
the war was no less efficient than it was unselfishly patriotic.
It should be stated, as enabling the reader to understand the enumeration of
our regiments, as herein sketched, that the four regiments composing the
detached (militia) brigade were subsequently counted as the Seventeenth,
Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth, and are so carried on the rolls of the
Adjutant-General. This will account for the absence of any sketches of regiments bearing those numbers.
It remains only to be added that if any misstatement has been unconsciously
embodied in this work, it will be cheerfully corrected upon the presentation
of trustworthy evidence of inaccuracy. The pen now laid down, guided
during all its task by a conscientious purpose and a controlling desire to do
exact justice to all, could engage in no more satisfactory labor, now or hereafter, than the correction of any error into which, from the absence of facts or
the conflict of testimony, it may have been betrayed.          J. Y. F.




CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
CAUSES  OF  THE  REBELLION.
The Relation of Slavery to the War.......................................  1
CHAPTER II.
THE  UPRISING  IN  NEW   JERSEY.
The State Unprepared for War-The Military Department-Governor Olden...... 13
CHAPTER III.
TROOPS  SENT  FORWARD.
Action of the Banks-The First Volunteers-Runyon's Brigade-Preparations of
the State Authorities for Coast Defence, &c................................  25
CHAPTER IV.
HOSTILITIES  COMMENCED.
Our Troops in Virginia-The Battle of Bull Run-The Action of Runyon and his
Brigade-Of the First and Second Three Years' Regiments-Incidents of the
Retreat..............................................................      39
CHAPTER V.
THE  FIRST  BRIGADE.
General Kearney as its Commandant-The Occupation of Manassas, and its Incidents-The PENINSULA CAMPAIGN-The Brigade's First Battle at West PointIts Fighting before Richmond-The Battle of Gaines' Mill-Heavy Losses of
the Brigade-The Retreat to Harrison's Landing-The Pope Campaign-Death
of General George W. Taylor-Gallant Achievement of the Brigade at Crampton's Pass-The Battle of Antietam-Gallantry of the Brigade at Fredericksburg-The Chancellorsville Campaign-The Rebel Invasion of PennsylvaniaThe Brigade at Gettysburg-Winter Quarters-The Grand Final CampaignLosses of the Brigade in the Wilderness Battles and at Cold Harbor-The
Brigade Transferred to the Shenandoah-Engagements in the Valley-The
Final Assault upon Petersbur —The General Record of the Brigade.......... 63
CHAPTER VI.
THE  SECOND  BRIGADE.
Its Gallantry at Williamsburg-Incidents and Reports of the Battle-The Engagement of Fair Oaks-Other Fighting before Richmond-The Brigade at Bristow
Station-At Chancellorsville-At Gettysburg-At McLean's Ford-The Battles of the Wilderness —Cold Harbor-Before Petersburg-Engagements at
Deep Bottom and the Jerusalem Plank Road-The Brigade at Hatcher's RunThe Final Fighting of the Campaign-Official Papers..................      129
CHAPTER VII.
THE  NINTH  REGIMENT.
Loss of Colonel Allen off Hatteras Inlet-The Regiment at Roanoke Island-At
Newbern-At Youngs' Cross Roads-At Tarborough-At Kinston-Other
Battles-The Regiment in Virginia-Fighting before Petersburg-Again in
North Carolina-Final Achievements....................................... 203




vi                                CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE  TENTH  REGIMENT.
Its Services at Suffolk-In Pennsylvania-As part of the First Brigade........... 267
CHAPTER IX.
THE  ELEVENTH  REGIMENT.
Engaged at Fredericksburg-Gallantry at Chancellorsville-Official Report of the
Battle-Losses at Gettysburg-Actions at Kelly's Ford and Locust GroveThe  Final  Campaign........................................................  276
CHAPTER X.
THE  TWELFTH  REGIMENT.
Stationed in Maryland-Proceeds to Virginia-Its Services at Chancellorsville-At
Gettysburg-At Bristow  Station-In the Wilderness Campaign —Losses at
Cold Harbor-Before Petersburg-The Final Movemnents.                       300
CHAPTER XI.
THE  THIRTEENTH  REGIMENT.
Engaged at Antietam-Bravery at Chancellorsville-At Gettysburg-Transferred
to the Southwest-Participates in the Atlanta Campaign-In the March to the
Sea-In the Carolina Campaign-Efficient Service at the Battle of Bentonville.......................................... 316
CHAPTER XII.
THE  FOURTEENTH  REGIMENT.
Stationed at Monocacy-At Maryland Heights-Moves to Bealton Station-Engaged at Locust Grove-Participates in the Rapidan Campaign-Gallantry at
Cold Harbor-The Battle of Monocacy-Losses of the Regiment-Engaged in
the Shenandoah-The Final Contest before Petersburg...................... 356
CHAPTER XIII.
THE  FIFTEENTH  REGIMENT.
Its Officers-Incidents of the Battle of Fredericksburg-Gallantry of the Regiment-The Battle of Fredericksburg-The Wilderness Campaign-Fighting
under Sheridan in the Shenandoah —Final Movements................. 382
CHAPTER XIV.
THE  SIXTEENTH  REGIMENT-(FIRST   CAVALRY).
Its Early Difficulties-In the Field-Pope's Advance-Cedar Mountain-Manassas
Plains and Aldie-Scouting-Brandy Station-Gettysburg-Sulphur Springs
and Bristow Station-Across the Rapidan-The Battles of the WildernessSheridan's Raid to Richmond-Turning Lee's Right-Operations around
Petersburg-The Final Campaign...................................... 408
CHAPTER  XV TO XXV —(INCLUSIVE).
THE  NINE  MONTHS' REGIMENTS.
Twenty-first, Twenty-second, Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth, Twentysixth, Twenty-seventh, Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth and Thirtyfirst Regiments-Their Services in the Fredericksburg Battles............... 486
CHAPTER XXVI'.
THE  THIRTY-SECOND  REGIMENT-(SECOND  CAVALRY).
Sent to the Southwest-Its Marches-Participates in an Expedition to Central
Mississippi-Fight at Okolona, Mississippi-Pursues the Rebel Forrest



CONTENTS.                                   vii
Brilliant Fight at Guntown-The Sturgis Expedition-Engagement at Port
Gibson-Expedition into Arkansas-Battle of Egypt Station-The Regiment
sent to New Orleans-Subsequent Movements............................... 589
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE  THIRTY-THIRD  REGIMENT.
Sent to Virginia-Thence to the Southwest-Engaged at Chattanooga-Its Services and Gallantry in the Atlanta Campaign-Its Assault at Dug Gap,
Georgia-Official Reports of its Engagements-The March to the Sea-The
Campaign of the Carolinas-Last Fight of the Regiment at Smithfield, North
Carolina........................................................   609
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE  THIRTY-FOURTH  REGIMENT.
Its Field of Operations-Its Defence of Columbus, Kentucky-Participates in
the Assault upon Mobile-General Record.................................. 642
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE  THIRTY-FIFTH   REGIMENT.
Its Early Movements-Joins the Army of General Sherman-Participates in the
Atlanta Campaign-Its Gallantry at Resaca-At Decatur-Before AtlantaThe Georgia Campaign-The March through the Carolinas-Muster Out..... 648
CHAPTER XXX.
THE  THIRTY-SIXTH  REGIMENT-(THIRD  CAVALRY).
Its Participation in the Wilderness Campaign-Sent to the Shenandoah-Battle of
Winchester-Other Engagements-Its Gallantry at Five Forks............... 661
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE  THIRTY-SEVENTH  REGIMENT.
Term of Service-Character of the Regiment-Its Efficiency-The Mortality of the
Command.............................................................   670
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE  THIRTY-EIGHTH  REGIMENT.
Its Term of Service brief-Engaged in Guard Duty-Its General Character....... 674
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE  THIRTY-NINTH  REGIMENT.
Its Gallantry in the Assault upon Petersburg-Losses of the Regiment........... 676
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE  FORTIETH   REGIMENT.
Attached to the First Brigade-Its Efficiency in the Closing Engagements of the
W ar.......................................................................  679
CHAPTER XXXV.
BATTERY  A-(FIRST  ARTILLERY).
Its Organization and Record-Engaged at West Point, Virginia-At Mechanicsville and Gaines' Mill-At Antietam-Participation in the Mud Campaign-Its
Gallantry at Salem Church-At Gettysburg-In the Wilderness CampaignFinal Movements...........................................................  680
CHAPTER XXXVI.
BATTERY  B —(SECOND  ARTILLERY).
Engaged in the Peninsula campaign-Its Efficiency at Seven Pines and Peach
Orchard-at Chancellorsville-At Gettysburg-Participates in the Final Campaign-Its Losses................................. 692




Viii                               CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
BATTERY  C-(THIRD   ARTILLERY).
Its Organization-Services at White House Landing-At Deep Bottom and Reams'
Station-Its Defence of Fort Haskell-Final Movements.................... 697
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
BATTERY  D-(FOURTH  ARITILLERY).
Its High Reputation-Its First Engagement-Assigned to the Defence of the Key
of our Position-Its Splendid Services-Gallantry of Officers and Men in
various Engagements-The Battery sent to New York-Its Movements upon
returning to the Field..................................................... 704
CHAPTER XXXIX.
BATTERY  E-(FIFTH  ARTILLERY).
Its Field of Operations-Largest Battery in the Service-General Character..... 726
CHAPTER XL.
JERSEYMEN  IN  OTHER  ORGANIZATIONS.
In the Excelsior Brigade -In the Harris Light Cavalry-In Bramhall's BatteryIn Twentieth and Forty-eighth New York Regiments -In Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavalry-Individual Jerseymen in Commands of other States.......... 727
CHAPTER XLI.
INVASION  OF  PENNSYLVANIA  IN  1863.
Services of Jerseymen in the "Emergency "-Their Honorable Record........... 766
CHAPTER XLII.
LEGISLATION  OF  THE  WAR  PERIOD.
Its General Character - Bounty and other Laws-Governor Parker-Provisions for
the Care of our Soldiers-Institutions of Relief, &c.................. 772
CHAPTER  XLIII.
POPULAR  SYMPATHY  WITH  THE  CAUSE.
Efforts of the People in aid of the Troops-Jersey Women as Nurses-Organizations of Relief-The State Sanitary Commission............................ 781
CHAPTER XLIV.
ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH.
The Record of the several Denominations-Influence  of their Example and
Teachings............................................................. 794
CHAPTER XLV.
DISTINGUISHED   GENERAL  OFFICERS.
Kearney-Mott-Torbert-McAllister-Ramsey-Sewell-Kilpatrick —HeckmanMindil-Taylor-Truex —Hall-Campbell-Harker-Bayard —Price-RevereMontgomery-Birney.......................................................  804
CHAPTER XLVI.
INSTANCES  OF  GALLANTRY.
Drummer Magee-Exploit at Murfreesboro-Major Vredenburgh —is Brilliant
Record............................................... 856
CHAPTER XLVII.
CHAPLAINS  AND  SURGEONS.
Their Work and General Efficiency-The Number in Service.................... 863
Appended Notes....................................................... 868




NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
CHAPTER I.
CAUSES OF THE REBELLION.
IN THE Eighty-Fourth year of the Independence of the United
States of America, there was initiated by ambitious and misguided
men an insurrection against the paramount and constitutional authority which, while apparently inconsiderable in its earlier manifestations, finally developed into the most formidable rebellion of
modern times, and in its ultimate consequences concerned the whole
family of man. For five terrible years, the fierce debate of arms
which followed upon this seditious outbreak, challenged the attention of all civilized nations, the influences of the combat reaching
to, and affecting, the remotest lands. Nor was the conflict, either
in the import or gravity of the issues it involved, or the magnitude
of the scale upon which it was waged, unworthy of the universal
and profound interest which it excited. It was no ordinary controversy; no mere contest of kings for feudal prerogatives, or of
parliaments ambitious of aggrandizement or the conservation of
endangered privileges, nor yet of embittered nations struggling for
new geographical adjustments or territorial acquisitions. It originated in no mere question of frontiers, like some more recent wars;
nor was it the outgrowth of any difference as to religious dogmas
like many other wars which have desolated the world. Its origin
was in far higher causes. Primarily it was a contest between civi



2              NEW  JERSEY AND TiE REBELLIOIN.
lization and barbarism; between those ideas of enlightenment, of
equality, of democracy which have their best and completest exposition in the American system, and those eternally and mercilessly hostile principles of caste, of ignorance and aristocracy which
in all ages, savage and civilized alike, have denied the rights of
the many and hedged about with sacred care the usurped authority
of the few.' From  the earliest dawn of our history as a nation
these principles had been in conflict, silently but desperately struggling for the mastery. For eighty years men and parties had been
swept to power or to ruin as one sentiment or the other, in this unceasing controversy, had dominated the hour. For the most part
that section in which education was confined to a feeble class, and
which was distinguished by a social system  which directed all
thought and endeavor to the one purpose of perpetuating its" own
existence, had controlled the nation.  But gradually power was
slipping from its grasp. Civilization builds itself up slowly, but
the law of its growth is sure, and so it came to pass that out of
eighty dismal years of feudalism, "in which there had been but
little talk of human right, but little obedience to divine reason,"
the Republic was slowly emerging at last into a nobler life and a
grander destiny.   The Hand of the Supreme, wheeling forward
with stately purpose the chariot-wheels of Progress, and beating
down whatever opposed the elevation of man and the enlarged
recognition of his rights, would not stay at the bidding of any
class or lords of misrule.  IHe who established us a people and
laid, broad and strong, the national foundations, did not mean that
the nation's life should be kept forever wrapped " in the ancient
cerecloths, and stiffening in the stony sarcophagus of a by-gone
age." The North, with its schools, colleges, churches; its manufactures and agriculture, its active and intense thought; with its
deepening culture, its concentrated population, and its ever-increasing appreciation of the principles under which it had grown and
1 Pollard's "Southern History of the War" says:
"The terrible war which ensued on disunion must be taken as the result of a profound and long-continued conflict between the political and social systems of North
and South, with which slavery had a conspicuous connection."




CAUSES OF THE REBELLION.                         3
flourished, grew steadily in strength and in influence in society and
the government.  The class that would dam  the currents of national freedom and human progress, hopelessly declined in power
and respectability; the class that sought to lift all weights fromr
the shoulders of men, to widen and deepen the channels of liberty
and progress, to subordinate forces to rights and government to
humanity, as steadily  augmented in vigor and numbers.   At
length, in 1860, the dominance of the North became, politically,
complete.  Upon the distinct issue, as to whether the principles
and ideas which it symbolized, or those, on the contrary, which distinguished the South, should henceforth rule, a decision fatal to the
further supremacy of the latter was deliberately given.  The key to
the portal of power, so long worn at the Southern girdle, was transferred absolutely to other hands. Then, seeing their downfall at
hand, realizing that the Government could no longer be employed
to shield or promote a sectional interest; that it would be administered for the good of all rather than for the advantage of a few,
the minority, burning still with a lust of power-inflammable, pet'
ulant, audacious, eager to assail-rose in rebellion against the voice
of the majority, threw off their allegiance to the central and constitutional authority, and madly attempted the dissolution of the
Union, to the end that some fragment, falling to their share, might
give them a new lease of power, and a foundation for a new empire
dedicated to the perpetuation of those doctrines and ideas which,
though rejected by all the world, they cherished as divine.
There were not a few-seers of the past, keen-eyed observers
looking forward with prophetic ken into the shadowy future from
the fields of past debates and controversies-who had anticipated
with trembling this terrible collision. Reasoning from the analogies of history and the drift of Southern policy and avowals, no
2 Alexander H. Stephens, in a speech at Savannah, Georgia, March 20, 1861, said that
" the foundations (of the new government) are laid, its corner-stone rests upon the
great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery-subordination
to the superior race-is his natural and normal condition." After further remarks in
the same vein, he reiterated the statement: "It is upon this our actual fabric is firmly
planted," adding the blasphemous words, " This stone, which was rejected by the first
builders,'is become the chief stone of the corner' in our edifice."




4                NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
less than from daily occurring events, they could not discern any
escape from a death-grapple between the opposing elements in our
life as a people.  They felt that permanent concord was impossible between a growing and advancing people, and one decaying;
between strength always aspiring to new  achievement, and weakness always declining to profounder chaos; between freedom seeking continually loftier heights of usefulness and enjoyment for the
race, and slavery forever creeping with panting tongue and lustful
eye towards fresh fields of conquest. So long as slavery should
exist, there could be, in the nature of the case, as many believed,
no homogeneity between the North and the South.  The very fact
that the industry of the South was in the hands of a servile race,
constituted a bar of separation, for that industry could never be
associated with ideas of ingenuity and skill, of knowledge and intelligence, of constant progress and general comfort, more and more
widely diffused among the people, which were the distinguishing
characteristics of the North. These facts had ample and emphatic
illustration in our history. The Southern ruling class had gone to
decay while the North was rising in wealth and power.  Born to
command from the cradle a despised race, with the persons of men
and women subject to their absolute power, the Southern plantation class were educated to arrogance, pride, sensuality,4 and these
very vices had eaten out all the vigor of their life. They were
even becoming incapable of self-government, and openly declared
3 As early as 1790, disunion was openly urged in Virginia and elsewhere, as the only
means of preserving the supremacy of Southern sentiment.  Washington's Farewell
Address grew out of the prevalence of this dangerous sentiment. John Randolph of
Roanoke declared in a speech in the House of Representatives, in 1817, that "the
Grand Arsenal of Richmond, Virginia, was built with an eye to putting down the Administration of Mr. Adams (the immediate successor of Washington as President), with
the bayonet, if it could not be accomplished by other means." This feeling of hostility to the principles of which the government was the expositor, strengthened with
the years, and formed a perpetual menace to the public peace.
4 Pollard, in his " Last Year of the War," says: "Slavery trained the white race of
the South in habits of command: and though, sometimes, these mnay have degenerated
into cruelty and insolence, yet they were generally the occasions of the revival of the
spirit of chivalry in the nineteenth century. * * * Slavery relieved the better
classes in the South from many of the demands of physical and manual labor; but although in someinstances idle or dissolute lives may have been the consequence of this, yet it
afforded opportunity for extraordinary intellectual culture in the South," &c.




CAUSES OF THE REBELLION.                             5
their abhorrence of freedom of speech and of the press.5 To govern the negroothey must govern also the non-slaveholder; to govern
him, he must be kept ill ignorance and isolation from every elevating influence; and it was obvious that if slavery remained, an
oligarchy supported by some power no less potent than the bayonet,
must in time supplant the authority of the ballot, resting  alike
upon the virtue of all. This was the Southern tendency and con.
dition, seen and known of men.  But the North would not pause
in its career.  The march of opinion could not be stayed.  The
love of liberty in the souls of the Northern people could not be
extinguished. Slavery, outwardly stately and powerful, but undermined and putrescent at the core, debauched more and more
the society which nourished and maintained it. Thus daily the
difference between the two sections grew  more pronounced, and the
danger of a collision more imminent. Barbarism cannot share the
destiny of civilization; vigorous and healthy life cannot be bound
to disease and decay.6
5 Debou's Review, the chief organ of the Southern ruling class, said, at the time. the
contest was maturing: "The real contest of to-day is not simply between the North
and South; but to determine whether for ages to cime our Government shall partake
more of the form of monarchies or of more liberal forms;" and the same journal
added: "The right to govern resides in a very small minority; the duty to obey is
inherent in the great mass of mankind. * * * There is nothing to which the South
entertains so great a dislike as of universal suffrage. * * * The real civilization of
a country is in its aristocracy. To make an aristocrat in the future, we must sacrifice
a thousand paupers."
6 The declarations of the secession leaders in South Carolina, as made in the statement setting forth the "causes" which led to the secession of that State, are conclusive upon this point, as to the influence of the slavery question in precipitating the
revolt. We quote from Dr. Stanton's work, "The Church and the Rebellion":
"After a long historical statement from their peculiar standpoint, and an argument
to show that secession is authorized by the Constitution of the United States, these
South Carolina leaders proceed to state the grievances which have impelled them to
secede. It is noteworthy that there is not a solitary allusion in the ordinance of secession to grievances on any subject but slavery. But the relation of the General and
State governments to that institution and their apprehensions for the future, they
argue at length. A sentence or two will show their position:' Those States (the nonslaveholding) have assumed the right of deciding upon the propriety of our domestic
institutions; and have denied the rights of property established in fifteen of the States
and recognized by the Constitution; they have denounced as sinful the institution of
slavery; they have permitted the open establishment among them of societies whose
avowed objects is, to disturb the peace and ruin the property of the citizens of other
States.  They have encouraged and assisted thousands of our slaves to leave their
homes; and those who remain have been incited by emissaries, books and pictures to




6                 NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
But there were other causes of this rebellion, lying nearer the
surface of our life as a people. These causes had always existed,
dating from the very foundation of the government. They may be
servile insurrection. For twenty-five years this agitation has been steadily increasing,
until it has now secured to its aid the power of the common Government. * * * On
the 4th of March next, this party will take possession of the Government. It has announced that the South shall be excluded from the common territory, that the judicial
tribunal shall be made sectional, and that a war must be waged against slavery until it
shall cease throughout the United States. The guarantees of the Constitution will
then no longer exist; the equal rights of the States will be lost. The slaveholding
States will no longer have the power of self-government or self-protection, and the
Federal Government will have become their enemy.'  Whatever may be true about
the justice of these charges, the proof is conclusive, from this official act, that slavery,
in its extravagant claims and unfounded fears, was at the bottom of the secession of
South Carolina. This conclusion cannot be avoided, unless we take the ground either
that the men of that Convention did not know and were unanimously mistaken as to
what their own complaints were, or that they were utterly hypocritical in stating them
and are not to be believed at all, and that, too, in a document intended to vindicate
their course before the world.
"The acts of secession, along with other proceedings of the Conventions of the
other rebel States respectively, show precisely the same cause for the revolt as that
assigned by the Convention of South Carolina-the assumed hostility of the General
Government to slavery and the corresponding sentiments of the people of the Northand there is no other reason given in any ordinance of secession.
"A more recent and conclusive official testimony is found in the action of the socalled Rebel Congress at Richmond, in an'Address to the People of the Confederate
States,' issued in February, 1864, in which they speak of the cause of their secession as
follows:' Compelled by a long series of oppressive and tyrannical acts culminating at
last in the selection of a President and Vice President by a party confessedly sectional
and hostile to the South and her institutions, these States withdrew from the former Union
and formed a new Confederate alliance as an independent Government, based on the
proper relations of labor and capital. The Republican party was formed to destroy slavery
and the equality of the States, and Lincoln was selected as the instrument to accomplish this object.'
"Besides this official testimony, many witnesses to the same effect might be cited
from among leading statesmen and divines.  We give a sample of their testimony.
Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the Southern Confederacy, was a representative man among Southern statesmen, and one of the ablest of them all. In his speech
at Savannah, Georgia, already quoted, showing the superiority of their Constitution,
he said:'The new Constitution has put at rest forever all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution-African slavery as it exists among us-the proper
status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the
late rupture and present revolution. Jefferson in his forecast had anticipated this as the'rock upon which the old Union would split.' He was right. What was conjecture
with him is now a realized fact. But whether he comprehended the great truth upon
which that rock stood and stands may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained
by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old Constitution were, that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of
nature; that it was wrong in principle-socially, morally, and politically. It was an
evil they knew not how to deal with: but the general opinion of the men of that day
was, that, some how or other, in the order of Providence, the institution would be
evanescent and pass away. This idea, though not incorporated in the Constitution,
was the prevailing idea at the time. The Constitution, it is true, secured every essen



CAtJSES OF THE REBELTTLIO,-.
comprehensively stated as originating in  errors of construction as
to the powers respectively of the individual States and the General
Government.  The close of the revolution  found the American
colonists with a governmental system  which, adopted during the
exigencies of war, had really none of the attributes of a government, being a mere league of communities which had never been
sovereign before, and lacking power to enforce its commands in any
matter of vital concern.  Though independent, having cast off the
British control, the colonies were still, not a nation, but a mere
cluster of petty States, bound together by a feeble alliance which
was the source rather of discord and weakness than of concord and
strength.  Obviously, this condition of affairs could not be permitted to continue. It was indispensable to the welfare of all alike
that there " should be lodged somewhere a supreme power to regulate and govern the concerns of the confederated republic."' There
must be a stronger government for the Union, or separation and
tial guarantee to the institution while it should last, and hence no argument can be
justly used against the constitutional guarantees thus secured, because of the common
sentiment of the day. Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested
upon the assumption of the equality of races.  This was an error. It was a sandy
foundation and the idea of a Government built upon it-when the "storm came and
the wind blew, it fell."  Our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite
ideas.'
"Again: all the religious public bodies of the South which spoke on the subject
at all, presented slavery as the cause of the disruption. Among other numerous instances, the' Address of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church ithe Confederate States of America, to all the Churches throughout the Earth,' adoped unanimously, at Augusta, Georgia, December, 1861, states the matter as follows:'In addition to this, there is one difference which so radically and fundamentally distinguishes
the North and the South, that it is becoming every day more and more apparent that
the religious as well as the secular interest of both will be more effectually promoted
by a complete and lasting separation. The antagonism of Northern and Southern sentiment on the subject of slavery lies at the root of all the difficulties which have resulted
in the dismemberment of the Federal Union and involved us in the horrors of an unnatural war.' The Southern Baptist Convention, a body representing, as they say,'a
constituency of six or seven hundred thousand Christians,' sitting in Savannah, Georgia,
May 13, 1861, unanimously adopted a paper in which they thus refer to slavery as the
cause of disunion:'The Union constituted by our forefathers was one of co-equal
sovereign States. The fanatical spirit of the North has long been seeking to deprive
us of rights and franchises guaranteed by the Constitution; and after years of persistent aggression, they have at last accomplished their purpose.' And similar testimony
is borne by all the leading denominations of Christians at the South; the purport of all
being-that slavery, its claims and apprehensions as urged by the Southern leaders,
caused the rebellion."
Washington's circular to the Governors of the States.




8               NIEW  JERSEY AND TlE RtBETtION.
dismemberment were inevitable. Our present Constitution was the
outgrowth of this palpable necessity. Its object was to make the
inhabitants of all the States perpetually one people, to create a nation —not a league.   To that end, and the preservation  of the
nation so constituted, it conferred upon the General Government
authority to make and execute supreme laws, to impose taxes, to
maintain an army and navy, to declare war, to make treaties-to
perform, in short, all the usual functions of a government acting
upon persons and property. At the same time, every power was
prohibited to the States which was deemed inconsistent with, or
would impair the omnipotence of, that central authority.  With the
adoption of the Constitution by the people, the States as they had
previously existed were blotted out,8 and to the new States which
arose there remained the powers not directly or impliedly granted
to the General Government.9  In other words, the power of the
States thus annihilated passed to their successor, which is the nation,
for any act of supreme sovereignty that "the exigencies of the
Union " may require.
Clearly, there could be no higher exigency than that of the pre
servation of the Union, and it would be a waste of words to argue
that for this purpose, when rebellion came, the Government had
ample power.  It was made for this very purpose.  The question
of maintaining the indivisibility of the Union was purely a question foPthe General Government to decide, and not a question for
each individual State. It was never intended that one of the States
created and assimilated by the engagement of all should have power
to defeat its object; this would have been incompatible with the
general principles on which every government must be founded."'
s "The general power, whatever be its form, if it preserves itself, must swallow up
the State governments, otherwise it would be swallowed up by them. Two sovereignties cannot exist within the same limits. —Mr. Hamilton in the Federal Convention of 1787.
9 The powers reserved to the States are the powers of local self-government by their
own executive officers, legislative assemblies and courts.
10 "I consider, then, the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed by one
State, incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on
which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed."President Jackson's anti-nullification message.




CAUSES OF THE REBELLION.                            9
A constitutional right of secession is wholly inconsistent with the
necessary authority of the Government, and with its inherent power
to preserve the Union. A nation has a right to everything essential to its safety and well-being. This nation has a right to a Union
consistent with its security, liberty and progress in civilization. It
had exercised power over the Union  from  the beginning.   But
Southern men held other views.  They held that each State was
sovereign, and that the Government had no power to preserve itself
or the Union, because none was expressly granted.  They claimed
for each State the right, at its own will and pleasure, and without
the consent of other States, or consultation with them, to withdraw
from  the Union."  They went even further, and claimed that by
reason of the secession of any State, the legal tie which bound the
others was severed, the central government annihilated, and each
State at liberty to form such combinations, and enter into such alliances, as it might elect. Not only could a single State withdraw,
but at its command the Union could be disintegrated-torn into as
many fragments as there are States; and when thus broken, it
could never be re-united, except by another convention and the
formation of another Constitution.
These principles-principles of misrule, of discord and death,
embodying intrinsically all the perils of anarchy-had long had
1 The fallacy of this reasoning as to State sovereignty has never been better exposed
than by President Jackson, thus:
"The States severally have not retained their entire sovereignty. It has been shown
that, in becoming parts of a nation, not members of a league, they surrendered many
of their essential parts of sovereignty. The right to make treaties, declare war, levy
taxes, exercise exclusive judicial and legislative powers, were all of them functions of
sovereign power. The States, then, for all these important purposes, were no longer
sovereign. The allegiance of their citizens was transferred, in the first instance, to the
government of the United States; they became American citizens, and owed obedience
to the Constitution of the United States; and to laws made in conformity with the
powers it vested in Congress. This last position has not been, and cannot be, denied.
How, then, can that State be said to be sovereign and independent, whose citizens owe
obedience to laws not made by it, and whose magistrates are sworn to disregard those
laws when they come in conflict with those passed by another? What shows, conclu -
sively, that the States cannot be said to have reserved an undivided sovereignty, is, that
they expressly ceded the right to punish treason-not treason against their separate
power, but treason against the United States. Treason is an offence against sovereignty,
and sovereignty must reside with the power to punish it."
2




10              SNEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
possession of the Southern  mind."  The  whole Southern people
had been educated in this faith. Southern society everywhere was
permeated by its influence.  In repeated encounters Southern men
had maintained it with resolute, if not implacable, tenacity of purpose.  Often they had menaced the nation with the horrors of war
in its defence.  There were men, too, at the North, who held, with
Calhoun and with President Buchanan,'" that the Constitution confers no power upon the general government to make war upon a
State; that in other words, there is no inhering or acquired power
in the government, when summoned by armed rebellion to abdicate
its authority, enabling it to maintain its own existence. They
forgot  that  self-preservation  is the  first law   of nature; that
the law acts upon individuals, and that to execute the law upon
persons is not to make war upon a  State.  They  forgot,  too,
that all rights known to the law have some formal and orderly
manner appointed for their assertion; but this pretended right of
secession had no such specified method of declaration. It could
only be asserted by violence, and this fact alone made its attempted
exercise outlawry, sedition, rebellion —offences clearly cognizable
by the paramount law of the public safety.
In  these causes, the war which for over four years filled this
land  with  death and tears, originated.  It was inevitable that
conflict should result from the principle of secession. It was in
itself a menace and a disorder- an element of decay lodged at the
12 In 1832, South Carolina embodied nullification in a solemn ordinance, declaring
that, should the Federal government attempt to enforce a certain Tariff law, "the
people of that State would henceforth hold themselves absolved from all further obligation to maintain or preserve their political connection with the people of the
other States, and would forthwith proceed to organize a separate government, and do
all other acts and things which sovereign and independent States may of right do."
Governor Hayne, in his message to the Legislature of that State, explicitly sanctioned the nullifying ordinance. "I recognize," said he, "no allegiance as paramount to that which the citizens of South Carolina owe to the State of their birth or
their adoption." Governor Pickens, in a proclamation issued twenty-eight years later
(December 24th, 1860), declared that South Carolina is, and has a right to be, a separate,
Sovereign, free, and independent State, and, as such, has a right to levy war, to conclude
peace, to negotiate treaties, leagues, or covenants, and to do all acts whatever that
rightfully appertain to a free and independent State."
12 Mr. Buchanan's views upon this point are given at length in his last annual message, laid before Congress on the third day of December, 1860.




CAUSES OF THE REBELLION.                  11
very tap-root of our system.  The men who precipitated the
contest had never been representatives of our highest life as a
Christian people; they were the expositors, not of our democracy,
but of the oligarchical element and spirit which had so long
aspired to broader and more absolute domination.  It was not
among them  that the gospel of liberty, of love, and of universal
brotherhood found the largest credence. It was not among them
that the industrial arts had their grandest development. It was
not under their patronage that our manufactures, our inventions,
our culture had come to challenge the homage of the nations.
Not by their efforts or wisdom-hardly by their consent —had the
continent been rescued from  barbarism, and great cities, with all
the refinements of civilization, planted in the far forest depths
where, half a century ago, only the red man's foot disturbed the
solitudes. All these results, at once the wonder and envy of the
world, had been achieved by the enterprise, the skill, the intelligence of the North, and were the legitimate product of the ideas
which there found supreme recognition.  They constituted, in the
eyes of Northern men, certain proofs of the value of the Union,
and of the wisdom  of that doctrine of government which, as it
were, images and epitomizes the people in the national polity, thus
securing permanence and safety to the persons and properties of
all alike, in the fact of a provident resource, or due reserve of
potency, for the correction of all abuses on the part of those in
authority.  No such results of material, moral or political advancement or elevation had been possible under the Southern system; on
the contrary, all Southern policy faced to the Past rather than to
the Future, cherished the effete and old rather than the vigorous
and new in government and morals, and with that conservative
instinct peculiar to aristocracies, perpetually cried out with Sanballat of old against the removal of the debris of decayed systems
and the erection of new structures of law and new memorials of
- growth and expansion.  It was but natural, therefore, that when,
in the inevitable attrition of these hostile principles, those who
recognized no restraints of law or fealty demanded the dissolution
of the Union, the people of the North, educated to regard that




12            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Union as the embodiment of the national aspirations and the safeguard of the national interests, and as necessarily, by the organic
laws of its structure, perpetual, should resolutely resist, even as
one resists an attempt to strike down those of his own household.
The instinct of nationality, lying deep in the hearts of the people
so long menaced by a grudging and ambitious oligarchy, when that
oligarchy at last raised its hideous hand in actual hostility, in one
grand outburst lifted the nation into an attitude of haughty and
majestic defiance, and thus, in one moment of time, issue was
joined between the forces which for eighty years had struggled-for
the mastery in our life, and silently prepared for the fatal hour
of a final and decisive collision.




CHAPTER II.
THE UPRISING IN NEW JERSEY.
On the 20th of December, 1860, a convention of delegates
elected under authority of the Legislature of South Carolina,
adopted an ordinance of secession, declaring the "Union then
subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the
name of the United States of America," to be finally and forever
dissolved. This act was hailed everywhere throughout the South
with eager exultation, as the first decisive step toward the erection
of an independent Southern Confederacy.  Others of the slave
States, where the disunion plotters had obtained control, at once prepared to follow the disastrous lead of South Carolina. Their Senators
and Representatives in Congress, flinging taunts and insults in the
faces of their loyal colleagues, resigned their places and hastened to
their homes to aid in stirring up the passions of the people to an
intenser heat and more implacable fury. Military organizations
were rapidly matured, and equipped with arms stolen from Federal
arsenals and armories, of which the conspirators took forcible possession. Vigilance committees, breathing the spirit of the mob,
were formed in all the larger towns, and established a reign of terror
which swept down, pitilessly, all thought of resistance to the
ungovernable passion of the hour.  The whole South rang with
appeals to arms. In February, 1861, an assembly of usurpers,
chosen by the secession conventions of six States without the consent or sanction of the people, adopted a form  of government for
the new Confederacy, which was afterwards distinguished by the
title of " Confederate States of America."' On the 12th of April,
1 "This title was utterly false, because no States, as States, were parties to the
league. The "government," so called, was composed only of a band of Confederate




14             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Fort Sumter, occupied by a Federal garrison, was assailed by
hostile batteries manned by Southern troops, and on the following
day it capitulated, and the flag of the " Confederacy" was lifted
over its shattered walls. From that hour, big with the fate of
millions, inactivity on the part of the government was impossible,
and it no longer hesitated to summon the people to defend the
heritage thus boldly and traitorously assailed.
It is entirely safe to say that up to this time the masses of the
Northern people were  unable to believe, notwithstanding  the
apparent exasperation  and widely  prevalent excitement of the
Southern  mind, that a blow  would actually  be struck  against
the national authority.  The flag of the nation was the flag of the
fathers. It was the symbol of a theory of government to which
all the world was more and more approximating. It proclaimed
on land and sea, to the ends of the earth, man's capacity for selfgovernment.  Under it the' country had grown from the weakness
of Colonial vassalage into the sturdy and stalwart strength of a
NATION, whose  power everywhere  found  recognition; whose
example had influenced the polity of the oldest and proudest
States of Europe; whose enterprise had pushed its adventurous
way into the remotest lands; whose science and philosophy had
contributed  to the comfort and advancement of every people;
whose laws embodied the ripest results of eighteen centuries of
political experience and growth. That flag had through two wars
led our armies to victory. It could not, surely, be that men who
had found shelter under its folds, whose fathers had marched under
it to battle, their way illuminated by the glory of its stars, would
dare to seek its dishonor and the overthrow of the authority which
it represented?  The same rivers that flowed by the doors of
Northern homesteads, touched, in their majestic sweep, the borders
of Southern plantations, and bore to Southern villages and cities
traitors, who had usurped the powers and trampled upon the rights of the people, who
constitute the State, and were about to make war upon the Republic to the hurt of
that people."-Lossing's " Civil War in America,"' page 248, vol. 1. It is noteworthy
that while the insurgent leaders uniformly claimed to speak for the people, and in
defence of their rights, the people were really ignored in the preliminary as well as in
all subsequent proceedings under the Confederacy.




THE UPRISING IN NEW JFE RSEY.              15
the products of Northern acres. The same mountain ranges which
cradled Northern hamlets on their slopes, lifted their heads over
Southern vallies, with contented populations nestling in their laps.
A vast system of railways, reaching from the Northern lakes to
the Gulf, with lateral lines extending from the Atlantic seaboard to
the Rocky Mountains, contributed to the creation of a community
of interests and equality of responsibility in the government,
among all sections of our extended domain. The language in
which Southern men appealed to God around the family altar, was
that in which New England sung her thanksgiving hymns and
taught the duty of obedience to law in her Christian schools.
Were not all these bands of union? Did not these things constitute physical arguments against dismemberment-geographical
disabilities to separation?  Was not ours a common destiny; were
there not ties of kindred, trade, history, tradition, which, in the
last resort, would hold us all together, proving stronger than the
passion of demagogues, stronger than the hates, however vehemently nourished, of faction or of section? Did the South, indeed,
mean to do battle with the whole spirit of the age?  It was in
thoughts like these that the people grounded the hope that, spite of
growing clamors and deepening exasperations, war would after all
be escaped, and the nation safely delivered out of all its perils.
The storm might gather, indeed, and the thunder mutter overhead,
but surely the clouds would ere long break and the blue sky
appear, sheathing in its serene depths every angry bolt, silencing in
its vast abysses every clamorous menace.
Thus confiding in the loyal instincts of the people; unable to
believe that the spirit of sedition would flower into open revolt;
and when the blow was finally struck, stunned alike by indignation
and surprise, the North was obviously unprepared for war. A
giant in strength, with vast resources at its command, it was yet for
the moment wholly incapable of defence, and with all its athletic
vigor was but a child in capacity for immediate resistence. The
Federal army, scattered in feeble detachments on frontier stations,
or employed in garrisoning seaboard defences, numbered in all but




16            NEWTf JERSEY ANI) THE REBELLION.
a paltry aggregate of twelve thousand men. The national arsenals,
not in rebel hands, were comparatively empty, and the armories
upon which the government depended for the production of arms
and munitions, were either inadequate or altogether abandoned.
Had an army of thirty thousand men leaped into the arena, fully
organized, at the first gun of the foe, the whole North, even if
dragged with a seine, could not for months after the first assault,
have furnished sufficient effective arms to equip it. Nor was this
all. There was not in any State, with perhaps a single exception,
a thoroughly organized and equipped militia upon which to fall
back for support and defence. The Free States, relying for protection against exceptional excesses and disorders upon the vigorous,
underlying sentiment of obedience to law, and the conservative influence of enlightened opinion, by which it was characterized-having in their midst no institution which constituted a perpetual
menace of the public peace-had only in rare instances bestowed
attention upon the cultivation of the martial spirit; for the most
part had neglected entirely the organization and maintenance of a
reserve military establishment which, while essentially voluntary
and republican in form, should second, in sudden or pressing
emergencies, the efforts of the civil magistracy in enforcing resisted
law and maintaining endangered authority.  There was, undoubtedly, in this prevalent decay of the military spirit, and this absence
of any efficient militia system, a gratifying, and to strangers an
amazing, exhibition of popular confidence in the strength and permanence of free institutions, as well as in the general virtue of the
citizen; but this fact, however pleasing in itself, atoned but poorly
for the general defencelessness when at last the shock of arms shook
down the nation's confidence in peace, and armed rebellion, standing at the very gates of the capital, demanded the surrender to its
control of the fairest portion of our heritage.
Among the States of the Union none, perhaps, was so poorly prepared for the harsh exactions and inevitable necessities of war, as
New Jersey.  Her militia system, never properly fostered or sustain;
ed, was but a system of shreds and patches, without organic unity,




THE UPRISING  IN  NEW  JERSEY.                        17
and almost entirely worthless as a means of defence, or even as a
nucleus for a more perfect organization.   The supply of arms at the
command of the authorities was scarcely equal to the equipment of
three full brigades, and those within reach were of the poorest
description-altogether unfit for active service.  They might answer
for mock engagements on peaceful muster-days, or for target-firing
on holiday parades, but beyond this they could be of little use. —
These, obviously, were not only inconveniences in the situation of
the State; they amounted to positive disabilities.  But these were
not the only embarrassing features of the situation. The military
bureau of the State had been organized on a purely peace basis, and
as such had been administered through a period of profound calm,
during which not a single demand had been made upon its energies.
It was as ignorant, practically, as the people themselves of the
realities and business of war.  Its heads knew  absolutely nothing
from experience as to the vast and consuming necessities of armies,
or of the methods of high organization now brought to bear upon
their structure."   Suddenly called upon to act, they were compelled
2 "The proclamation of the President of the United States, which appeared on the
fifteenth day of April last, calling out the militia of the several States to suppress
rebellion already commenced in a portion of our country, found the State of New Jersey almost wholly unprepared for such a call. * * * Many years ofprofoundpeace,
and the absence of any feeling of alarm, had left our reserve militia entirely unorganized, and to a great extent unenrolled throughout the State, while the active militia
(which had been almost entirely supported by the individual patriotism and exertions
of Its members, with little or no encouragement from the State,) though it amounted in
the aggregate to about four thousand four hundred officers and men, consisted in a great
measure of scattered companies, attached to the various brigades of the State, and these
in many cases but poorly armed." —eport of Adjutant-General Stockton, 1861.
3 The reader will not misunderstand these remarks. They are not meant to reflect
at all upon the capacity of the heads of this department of the State Administration.
Robert F. Stockton, Jr., who served during the whole period of the war as AdjutantGeneral, was in every respect admirably qualified for that position. Inheriting a predilection for the profession of arms, and thoroughly patriotic, he brought to the discharge of his duties the highest energy, with a sobriety of judgment and a vigor of
perception which made him invaluable. No man was more sensible than he was of the
defects of our militia system, and the difficulties of his position resulting therefrom,
and from the very first he labored industriously to secure the introduction of such
reforms as would, in a measure at least, remedy the existing evils. But with all this,
General Stockton was without experience in the actual business of organizing large
bodies of troops, and it is to this fact, for which he was no more to blame than any
other citizen, that we refer in this resume of the embarrassments attending the operations of our military bureau in the early stages of the war. Later in the struggle no
such statement would apply. The Quartermaster-General, Lewis Perrine, labored under
3




18               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
to acquire, by slow and painful application, that facility in organizing troops without which their efforts were liable to be baffled at
every turn. For at the centre of all military authority and activity
-the capital of the nation-narrow-minded, impracticable  men
seemed for a time to have exclusive control; men who, in the face
of a hostile army, with eleven States in open revolt, and war
already striding with kindled torch through the land, not only
estimated the rebellion as a mere temporary ebullition which would
disappear in thirty, or at most, ninety days, but actually organized
their measures of defence upon  this narrow  estimate.4   Hence, it
came to pass that when the people, more correctly interpreting the
signs of the hour, thronged in with lofty courage, by hundreds and
thousands, to defend the nation's life, they met rebuffs rather than
encouragement;  checks and  hindrances amounting  to  positive
restrictions, were laid upon the recruitment and reception of in-coming volunteers; and, as a result, State authorities were constantly
exposed to unnecessary annoyances-were compelled to conform  to
stereotyped and effete methods in the organization and equipment
of their regiments, and to undergo the most irksome processes of
circumlocution even as to the most trivial details. Necessarily, this
persistent adherence to forms, to old usuages, to the methods of the
schools, in the presence of a crisis demanding instant and decisive
the same difficulty as his associate, but, like him, displayed, from first to last, an untiring assiduity and conscientious fidelity in the performance of his duties, which achieved
for him, justly, an exalted reputation among our troops, no less than with the public at
large. We shall have occasion to refer again to both these officials in the course of this
work.
4 Nothing in the whole record of the war appears more painfully ridiculous than the
failure of Secretary Cameron, and other high Government officials, to appreciate, even
approximately, the gravity of the crisis which they were called to meet. On the part of
some of them, there was, apparently, utter and complete blindness, or what was still
more criminal, a fixed purpose to dwarf the contest, and measure all preparations of
defence by their own low and inadequate standard. Thus, Secretary Cameron, when the
Governor of this State pressed the acceptance of troops in May, 1861, said: " Three regiments are assigned to your State. It is important to reduce rather than enlarge this number. Let me earnestly recommend you, therefore, to call for no more" (than already
named.) " If more are already called for, reduce the numberby discharge."  Even after
Bull Run, as late as August, 1861, Mr. Cameron only reluctantly consented to accept
the Ninth Regiment, although the men were recruited and eager to go to the field,
where only disaster had crowned our arms. If this was not an absurdity amounting
to cruelty, what was it?




THE UPRISING IN NEW  JERSEY.                      19
action, seriously embarrassed a bureau so inexperienced as that to
which the military interests of New Jersey were committed, and
with all the fidelity and industry of its heads, this added burden
rendered the work of preparation for defence one of stupendous,
and at first sight, appalling proportions.
In one thing, however, the State was eminently fortunate. It
had an Executive of incorruptible integrity,'of inflexible loyalty,
and of indomitable will; one of those rare men who, outwardly
unobtrusive and silent, conceal under a complacent demeanor, vast
inherent strength and self-reliance, which, upon emergency, produce
in them prodigies of performance. A man of quiet habits, preferring
the peaceful pursuits of the husbandman to the tumults and rivalries
of politics, without ambition or exalted self-appreciation,5 he had
consented to become a candidate for Governor only upon the most
pressing entreaties of those who, discerning signs of trouble in
the lowering future, felt profoundly the supreme importance of
securing a man of his distinguished character as Executive of the
State; and even when elected, after one of the most heated political campaigns in our history, he entered with undisguised reluctance
upon the duties of the office, notwithstanding, at that time, those
duties were by no means of an exacting nature. Had he foreseen,
in those days of calm, what burdens awaited him  in the futurewhat consuming and overwhelming demands would be made upon
his energies in the performance of the inevitable administrative
labors which the war imposed, we may well imagine that not even
the most urgent solicitations would have induced him to accept the
important trust which the people so willingly confided to his hands.
But the very qualities we have named as entering predominantly
into Governor Olden's character, made him, when the crisis came,
5 No man could be more destitute of ambition, of the vulgar sort, than Governor
Olden. During the canvass which resulted in his election, he more than once said to the
writer: "Nothing but the most urgent considerations of public duty, and of attachment to the principles with which I have always been identified, could ever have
induced me to become a candidate. If elected, I shall find no pleasure in the position.
I have no children who, when I am gone, will count it an honor to be able to say their
father once filled the highest position in the State; I have myself no aspirations in that
direction; why, then, should I be engaged as I am in appealing to the people for support?"




20              NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
peculiarly the man for its augmented and solemn responsibilities.
The patriotic instinct which impelled him to sacrifice personal feelings and personal comfort to meet the call of his fellow-citizens,
made him, from the first moment of the rebellion, thoroughly and
desperately in earnest in all his convictions of the necessity and duty
of defence.  The great energy and innate integrity of purpose, the
nicely-balanced temperament, the keen perception and power of
rapid decision for which he was noted, made him a leader, at once,
in the work of organizing the State for the task which, in common
with every other commonwealth, suddenly rose before it.  These
qualities not only made him a leader as to larger operations-as to
the general purpose and object in view,-but gave him conspicuous
facility in devising and arranging details, in ordering safely and
wisely the minutiae of the work in hand, and in meeting and disposing of, promptly and judiciously, the new questions and difficulties
almost daily arising.  Nor was this all.  Governor Olden, albeit of
retiring life, had been a close observer and student of character, and
was a rare judge of men, discriminating with a precision which seldom, if ever, erred, between the good and the bad-the trustworthy
and the fickle-the wise and the foolish.  This quality of mind
proved of the utmost value to the State and to the country. It
enabled him, in the selection of his subordinates, and especially in
the officering of our troops, to procure men of undoubted capacity,
who could be depended upon to perform the work assigned them.6
No pretender ever imposed upon Governor Olden; no adventurer,
substituting effrontery and affluence of talk for genuine merit, ever
passed his searching scrutiny and acquired his endorsement.  The
result was that the regiments which left the State during his administration were better officered and appointed than those of any other
6 Governor Olden was greatly assisted in the selection of officers by a Board of Examiners, composed of Adjutant-General Stockton, Lieutenant A. T. A. Torbert and
General William Cook. Lieutenant Torbert, who was at an early day assigned for duty
at Trenton, rendered from the first most important service in organizing and preparing
our regiments for the field. Governor Olden was also greatly assisted in the labors of
his office by Captain Charles P. Smith, James T. Sherman, formerly editor of the State
Gazette, Barker Gummere, Clerk in Chancery, Colonel Charles Scranton, General N. N.
Halsted, Hon. Joseph W. Allen, and others-all of whom labored untiringly, and without compensation, in behalf of the State.




THE UPRISING IN NEW JERSEY.                 21
State.  There was another reason for this.  The Executive carefullv avoided the error, into which some other Governors fell, of
making political appointments, that is, of selecting men for purely
military duties because of political service, or the solicitations of
political bodies. In all his selections, of courss, primary reference
was had to the opinions of the persons chosen touching the war; it
would have been simply suicidal to have placed in command of
loyal troops men who sympathized with the enemy; but there was
no difficulty at all in finding, in both political parties, individuals of
recognized competency and unqualified patriotism, who eagerly embraced the opportunity to lead our volunteers to battle. In those
first hours of the great uprising, whatever may have been the case
at a later period in the struggle, party lines were obliterated, party
restraints uncared for, and the claims of the country, for which in
other times men had died and women had agonized and suffered,
were, with but an inconsiderable exception, recognized as sacredly
paramount and supreme.
Charles S. Olden, whose peculiar qualifications for the Executive
office are here presented, was, at the time of his election, sixty-one
years of age, and in the prime of his strength and judgment.  He
had served for two terms of three years each in the upper house of
the State Legislature, and was familiar with the wants, as well as
thoroughly conversant with the history, of the State.  While a
member of the Senate he had developed a talent for finance, and a
capacity for the business of legislation, which gave him a front rank
among the straightforward, old-style legislators who, before and
for a time subsequent to the adoption of the present Constitution,
so greatly honored the State.  He was chosen Governor in November, 1859, by a majority of one thousand six hundred and fifty-one
(in a total vote of one hundred and seven thousand one hundred
and seventy-six,) over General E. R. V. Wright, who was widely
known as an active and influential supporter of the principles of
his party,-and was, consequently, in the second year of his administration when the war commenced.  Politically, Governor 01



22            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
den held to the principles of the Republican party, but had no
sympathy with the peculiar views of some rash extremists who
clung to that organization. Slavery he regarded as an unmitigated
evil, the extension of which was to be prevented by all means
known to the Constitution, and the influence of which it was of the
highest importance to purge from the national life. At the same
time, understanding, from observation during a residence of some
years in a Gulf State, the intense feeling which pervaded the Southern mind on this subject, and constitutionally averse to strife, except where vital principles were actually involved, he looked for
the removal of the system to the silent but resistless operation of
Christian teaching and example, and deprecated any attempt to interfere, from without, with the domestic institutions of any State.
In this he agreed with the great majority of his cwn party, but
was, perhaps, slower than some others, when the war had vested
the nation with absolute power over this subject, to come up to the
standard which was finally reached, as a national expression, in Mr.
Lincoln's Proclamation of Emancipation. On this subject, we have
Governor Olden's official declarations, which must be accepted as a
conclusive exposition of his views, and they fully confirm the interpretation here recorded. In his Inaugural Address to the Legislature, (January 17, 1860,) referring to the threatening aspect of
public affairs, he urged with great earnestness the duty of a conciliatory course, declaring that "mutual concession was essential to
the integrity of the Union," and adding that while " the sentiment
of a large portion of the citizens of the United States was unquestionably adverse to involuntary servitude," its extinguishment was
" exclusively and eminently a matter of domestic policy, and controlled by each State for itself." At the same time, he declared
that " every encroachment of the system of slavery upon ground
not clearly ceded to it by the original compact," was in violation of
it, and might be justly and lawfully resisted. He added, in the
same direction, that "New Jersey having always been true to her
Federal engagements, and having fallen behind none of her sister
States in fidelity to the Union, sympathizes now with no party
which seeks its dissolution. As she was among the first to ratify




THE UPRISING IN NEW JERSEY.                23
the Constitution, so will she be among the last to violate any of its
provisions; and that Union, in the benefits and glories of which
she has shared, with all the powers that God has given her she will
endeavor to perpetuate until the latest day."
In these sentiments we have a clear and pronounced revelation
of Governor Olden's character, and an index to the policy which
he ever afterwards pursued. Even when the secession movement
had been actually initiated by South Carolina, he still held to the
hope that hostilities might be averted, and all existing difficulties
harmoniously adjusted. To that end, in his Annual Message to
the Legislature in January, 1861, he counselled moderation, and
suggested that it might be wise to favor, by some legislative expression, the calling of a Convention of all the States, in which the
points at issue might be discussed and some satisfactory basis of
settlement agreed upon. But in the same message, he warned the
misguided men of the South that the principle of secession, tending
directly to anarchy, would never be admitted by the loyal States
and people; that they, and the communities for which they claimed
to speak, had no wrongs, no grievances which could not be righted
under the Constitution and within the Union, and repeated that New
Jersey, while deprecating strife and yearning for a peaceable and
orderly solution of all disputes, would still defend the Union, if in
spite of all entreaties it should be assailed by armed violence, with
all the enthusiasm and all the energy which her sons displayed
in the struggle for its establishment.  That this was no vain
boast, we shall see in due course of this record.
As to the manner in which Governor Olden discharged his
duties, a fact or two deserves here to be added. His capacity for
labor, however arduous and incessant, was remarkable. He took
no thought of himself. Family enticements, home delights, the
companionship of kindly neighbors, once so full of attraction, he
entirely surrendered, and if he thought of them at all amid his
crowding duties, let the thought lie sweetly in his heart, and gave
no sign. For a period of twenty-one months, he was only absent
from  the State capital two days and nights, and during much of
this time he worked at his desk not only during the day but far




24            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
into the nights, making it a rule to complete each day the duties
which that day brought.  The correspondence alone devolved
upon him during this protracted period would have fully occupied
the hands of any less methodical and industrious man, but he not
only regularly disposed of it, writing with his own hand all letters
of importance, but gave constant attention to the more pressing
duties of his office, keeping everything at all times under his
personal supervision, watching closely the expenditures in the
military department in the purchase of supplies and equipments,
scrutinizing the claims and characters of all applicants for position,
looking with fatherly care after the comfort of our troops, and passing through all these harassing perplexities and cares with serene
face and a lofty faith in the nation's cause which made all men
around him better and stronger for their work.  After such a
career-a career embellished by unflinching loyalty and unselfish
devotion to duty, crowned by a royal abnegation of all personal
interests and tastes-it was but just that he should bear with him
into his retirement, as a recompense for all his toils and sacrifices,
the gratitude and esteem of all the people, and a sense of high
appreciation, moreover, among all without the State, who were
cognizant of his services.




CHAPTER III.
TROOPS SENT FORWARD.
THE population of New Jersey in the Spring of 1861, amounted
to six hundred and seventy-six thousand.  Of this number, ninetyeight thousand eight hundred and six were liable to military duty,
though without military experience, and to a great extent ignorant
of the use of arms.  But when the call came for men to defend the
nation's capital, great as had been the popular reluctance to believe
that war was possible, and all-pervading as was the decay of the
martial spirit, there was no hesitation or delay in the people's response.  The whole North rose with glorious unanimity to vindicate the majesty of insulted law.  New  Jersey, from  her Revolutionary battle-fields, answered the nation's call with eager pledges of
help.  The old flag, displayed aforetime only on fair holidays when
no storms beat, flung out its folds in every town and hamlet, and
over secluded country homes, and became a perpetual sign of covenant-keeping faithfulness,-a pledge to all the world that the cause
it symbolized should be maintained at whatever cost.  It had gone
down, torn and soiled, at Sumter, but it should be raised again, some
day, triumphant and with new stars shining in its azure field. In
every town and village, the people, assembling in public meetings,
pledged their utmost resources in behalf of the imperiled Government.  The banks came forward with liberal offers of money;' hlead1 The following are the amounts placed at the disposal of Governor Olden by the
banks whose names appear:
Newark Banking Company............................................$50,000
State  Bank  at Newark.................................................  50,000
Mechanics' Bank "......................................... 25,000
Newark City Bank...................................,000
Essex  County  Bank...............................................  20,000
State  Bank  at Elizabeth...............................................  20,000
4




26                    NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
ing citizens proffered their assistance to the authorities; every fireside shone with the lustre of patriotic feeling; and even the schools
shared  in  the absorbing  excitement.   It was a carnival of patriotism, from one end of the State to the other.2
Mechanics' and Traders' Bank, Jersey City............................ 25,000
Bank of Jersey City................................................ 10,000
Hoboken City Bank................................................... 11,000
Sussex  Bank.........................................................   20,000
Union Bank at Dover................................................ 10,000
Farmers' Bank of Wantage............................................  8,000
State Bank at New Brunswick......................................... 25,000
Trenton Banking Company........................................... 35,000
Mechanics' and Manufacturers' Bank, Trenton......................... 35,000
Bordentown Banking Company.......................................  5,000
Mechanics' Bank of Burlington.......................................  5,0u0
Farmers' Bank of New Jersey, (Mount Holly,)......................... 10,000
Burlington County Bank at Medford..................................  5,000
State Bank at Camden............................................... 26,000
Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank, Camden............................... 10,000
Gloucester County Bank, (Woodbury,)................................  5,000
Salem  Banking Company.............................................. 10,000
Cumberland Bank, (Bridgeton,).......................................  5,000
Total.......................................... $451,000
Among the earliest individual tenders of aid were those of Miss Sophia Stevens and
Miss Esther Stevens, who, on April 29th, each placed $1,000 at the Governor's disposal.
2 Lossing, in his " Civil War in America," page 403, says of the uprising in New Jersey, very justly as to the people but falsely as to the Governor:  " The inhabitants of
New Jersey were so full of enthusiasm that they became impatient of the seeming lukewarmness and tardiness of Governor Olden and others in authority.  The Governor
was so startled by the demonstrations of patriotism  around him, that he ordered Company A, of the City Battalion of Trenton, the capital of the State, to watch the arsenal,
and see that the people did not run away with the arms." Nothing could be more un-;ust than this as to the State Executive. No man could possibly have been more prompt
than Governor Olden in meeting every demand of duty.  He did not need to be stimulated, by pressure from without, to the fulfilment of any obligation.  As to  the intimation that he was driven to place a guard at the State Arsenal by an apprehension
that the populace, in their impetuous zeal, would seize its contents and march headlong
to the field, no one who knows what the condition of that establishment was, and how
worthless were the arms stored within its shattered and rambling walls, will need to be
assured of its entire groundlessness.  The statement, indeed, in view of the actual facts
of the case, is too farcical to deserve serious comment. Mr. Lossing continues, with
greater accuracy:  "He (Governor Olden) isssued a proclamation, two days after the
President's call, calling for the quota of New Jersey to assemble at the State Capital.
The Trenton banks tendered a loan to the State of $25,000; and the authorities of the
city of Newark appropriated $100,000 for the maintenance of the families of volunteers,
and five thousand dollars for the equipment of the soldiers. The Legislature met on
the 30th of April, in extraordinary session,  *  *  *  *  and the movements of troops
b)egan."  In another place, the writer says that "the people of the State nobly redeemed" the pledge, made by the Legislature, of the faith and power of New Jersey in
aid of the Government, in any required extent.
Fitz James O'Brien, in a.letter to the New York Times, describing the journey of the




TROOPS SENT FORWARD.                            27
President Lincoln's first call for troops was made on the 15th
day of April, 1861. Of the total number called for by that proclamation, New Jersey's quota was four regiments of seven hundred
and eighty men each, or three thousand one hundred and twenty
three men in all.3  Governor Olden received the requisition of the
War Department, of which he had been previously notified,4 on the
17th, and instantly issued a proclamation, directing all individuals
or organizations willing to respond to the call thus made, to report
themselves within twenty days.  On the same day, he notified the
Government  that  its  demand  would be immediately complied
with. The terms of the requisition required the troops furnished
to be detached from the militia of the State, and accordingly, simultaneously with the proclamation of the Governor, orders were
issued to the Major-Generals of the several military divisions, four
in number, to detail each one regiment of ten companies, and also
to  organize immediately  the  reserve  militia in  the  respective
brigades. In detailing, these officers were directed to accept the
service of volunteers, but if the requisite number did not volunteer,
they were required to draft from  the reserve militia for the deficiency.  No such necessity, however, was anticipated, and the result
fully justified the confidence of the authorities. The people every
where responded with enthusiastic alacrity to the call for troops.
The existing military  organizations at once  opened  recruitingstations; public meetings were held in every town and city in aid
New York Seventh Regiment to Washington, gave this glimpse of the popular feeling
in New Jersey: " Swift through New Jersey-against which no sneer be uttered evermore. All along the track shouting crowds, hoarse and valorous, sent to us, as we
passed, their hopes and wishes. When we stopped at the different stations, rough
hands came in through the windows, apparently unconnected with any one in particular
until you shook them, and then the subtle magnetic thrill told that there were bold
hearts beating at the end. This continued until night closed, and, indeed, until after
midnight."
It may be remarked here, that all the regiments which passed through our State during the first year of the war, received the same cordial welcomes at the hands of the
people.
- Including the Brigadier General, one Aid, and the Brigade Inspector.
4 i" WASHINGTON, April 15, 1861 —His Excellency Charles S. Olden, Governor of the
State of New Jersey:-Call made on you by to-night's mail for four regiments of
militia for immediate service.           SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War."
This despatch was received by Governor Olden, at Princeton, at half-past five o'clock,
p. m., on the day sent.




28               NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
of enlistments; the churches entered cordially into the work, many
sending full companies  into  the ranks;  while everywhere  the
popular heart beat responsive to the spirit in which the call of the
nation's head had been made. Within a few days over one hundred
companies of volunteers, equal to ten thousand men, had offered
their services, under the Governor's proclamation." And even this
number would have been greatly increased but for the prevalent
belief that the quota would be filled by the brigades already
organized.  The first regimental offer was made by the First Regiment of the Hunterdon brigade,6 on the day following the appearance of the Governor's proclamation. On the same day, Captain
John R. Cunningham  tendered the services of the Camden Zouaves,
and these were rapidly followed by similar offers from all parts of
the State. Individual offers were also immediate and numerous.
On the 16th of April, that on which the President's proclamation
was published, George D. Bayard, then first lieutenant of the First
Regular Cavalry, at West Point, and afterwards one of the most
distinguished cavalry leaders of the war, formally tendered his services, stating his desire to serve with the troops of his native
State.,  Six days later, Judson Kilpatrick, then cadet lieutenant at
the United States Military Academy at West Point, also addressed
an urgent appeal to the Governor to be permitted to share with our
troops the dangers and honors of the field.  About the same time,
5 This does not include the fragmentary organizations, numbering less than one hundred men, which tendered themselves to the State.
As exhibiting how the patriotic uprising of our people compared with that of another
State of equal size, it may be mentioned that in Connecticut, up to the first of May,
according to the message of Governor Buckingham, forty-one volunteer companies had
been accepted.
6 The following is the letter in this case:
"LAMBERTVILLE, N. J., April 18, 1861.
"GOVERNOR CHARLES S. OLDEN: Dear Sir:-The First Regiment of the Hunterdon
Brigade, at this time numbering about 200 men, rank and file, respectfully tender their
services to the Government, to aid in putting down the present rebellion. We are
ready to obey your command.                       V. R. MATHEWS,
"Lieutenant Colonel of the First Regiment, Hunterdon Brigade."
7 The first individual offer, according to the records in possession of Governor Olden,
was made by Joseph W. Revere, Brigadier General of the Morris Brigade, who as early
as January, 1861, tendered his services in any capacity in which they might be required.
This offer was renewed on April 17, and General Revere subsequently became Colonel of
the Seventh Regiment.




TROOPS SENT FORWARD.                            29
Wm. S. Truex, lieutenant-colonel of militia, who had Seen many
years service in the army, being a graduate of West Point, proffered his sword for the country's defence.   Similar offers were
made (April 24) by General Win. Cook, then manager of an important railway line, but formerly connected with the army; by HI.
W. Sawyer, of Cape May, (May 1) then  a member of a Pennsylvania volunteer company; by J. H. Simpson, captain and chief of
Topographical Engineers, then at Sandy Hook, near  Iarper's Ferry.
Virginia;9 by Wm. B. Hatch, of Camden, who had been in the
years 1859 and 1860 in the Russian cavalry, at St. Petersburg;0 by
Mark W. Collet, then a resident of Germantown, Pennsylvania;".by Mrs. Kitty K. Painter, of Camden, who desired to serve as an
army nurse;1  and by many others whose names afterwards shone
in the bulletins of many a well-fought field.
The first company actually received and mustered into service
(April 23) under the requisition of the authorities, was the " Olden
Guard," a militia organization of Trenton.3"  On the 30th of April,
so rapidly had volunteers come forward, that the quota of the State
was complete, and the regiments stood ready to march.
Simultaneously with these movements for the recruitment and
organization of troops, the State authorities were engaged in other
and almost equally important labors. Realizing the necessity of
means of prompt and constant communication with all parts of the
8 Mr. Sawyer was so pertinacious in his appeals for a position in a New Jersey regiment, that, being found meritorious, he was, on the 19th of February, 1862, commissioned as second lieutenant in Company K, First New Jersey Cavalry, in which position
he served with marked credit, and had an experience of most romantic interest, as is
recorded in another part of this work.
9 Afterwards Colonel of the Fourth Regiment, in the three years' service.
10 Mr. Hatch was commissioned as Adjutant of the Fourth Regiment, three months'
service, and subsequently made Major of the Fourth (three years') Regiment.
ii This gentleman afterwards applied for a surgeon's commission, but being found to
possess high soldierly qualifications, and especially the most undaunted courage, was
made Major of the Third Regiment, raised under the second call.
12 Mrs. Painter was afterwards widely known as one of the most efficient and humane
nurses of the Army of the Potomac. Thousands of scarred veterans, scattered abroad
through the country, remember with gratitude her tender ministrations to their comfort
in hospital and camp.
13 This Company should not be confounded with Company A, (National Guard,) which
was detailed for special service at the State Arsenal, under orders of the QuartermasterGeneral.




30               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
State, the telegraph line to Cape May, which had been abandoned
by the Company, was at once ordered to be put in working order, at
the expense of the State;4 and, as a further means of defence, a
maritime guard was established along the line of the coast, consisting
of patriotic citizens living adjacent thereto. Other measures looking
to coast defence were also promptly adopted, including the establishment of a patrol of the shore line by armed vessels.l' Steps,
4 The following despatches refer to this matter:
"PHILADELPHIA, April 21, 1861.
"GOVERNOR OLDEN:-The telegraph line to Cape Island has not been in operation for
several months. The Company, it is said, have abandoned it. The line should be put
in working order to communicate with Government vessels off the Capes. It will cost
about $500. Shall I have it put in order?        W. B. MILLER, of Cape May."
Upon the original copy of this despatch, are endorsed the words, in Governor Olden's
hand: "Answered April 21. Ordered line put in order immediately, at the expense of
the State."
15 The following correspondence, as part of the history of the times, is interesting in
this connexion:
" TRENTON, May 15, 1861.
"HON. HIRAM BARNEY, Collector of New York:-Dear Sir:-I am satisfied the New
Jersey coast should receive the attention of the General Governmentwithout delay, and
that your port is deeply interested in the action. There are along our shore several inlets, namely: Barnegat, Little Egg Harbor, Absecum, Great Egg Harbor, and others.
Vessels entering these inlets can sail for nearly one hundred miles through inland bays,
extending up and down the coast, and separated from it by a narrow neck of land, and
are there secure fiom storms and observation. Privateers may lurk here in the immediate vicinity of the commerce entering and leaving your port, near the open sea, and
ready to prey upon the unprotected. In some of these inlets suspicious looking craft
have been observed recently. One, a fast-sailing schooner, which avoided all inspection,
and another, a small steamer, whose crew gave contradictory accounts of her lading and
destination.
I have written to the Secretary of the Navy, recommending that a steamer carrying
two or more guns, under an active officer, should cruise for a short time on the coast
and in the bays and inlets of this State, and think the matter of sufficient importance
to deserve your attention and support. Volunteer companies have been formed in the
counties bordering on our coast, but while adequate to the protection of the main land,
they cannot prevent privateering.  Your obedient servant,
"CHARLES S. OLDEN."
To the above, the following reply was returned:
COLLECTOR'S OFFICE, CUSTOM HOUSE, 
NEW YORK, May 16, 1861. 
SIR:-I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 15th instant,
in relation to the exposed situation, under our present exigencies, of the coast of New
Jersey.
I beg leave to assure you that every attention in my power will be given, in the discharge of my official functions, to counteract the designs of evil-disposed persons
towards the United States Government and the loyal citizens thereof.
A copy of your letter has been forwarded to CommodoreBreese, United States Naval
Commander on this station. Captain Howard of the United States Revenue service,
who is charged with supervision of these matters, informs me that the cutter Jackson




TOOPS SENT FORWARD.                                31
too, were taken to secure a more adequate and efficient garrison for
Fort Delaware, lying in Delaware Bay, about midway between the
shores of New  Jersey  and  Delaware, it being feared that hostile
bodies from the latter State might undertake to seize that work,
with a view of closing communication with Philadelphia from the
sea.'6   A  company  of New  Jersey  troops, tendered for garrison
duty, was accepted by  Major-General Wool, then  in command
at New  York, but the  general Government subsequently provided
for the safety ot the Fort, and their services were not required.  It
was, however, undoubtedly owing to the vigilance of our authorities
and citizens that this fortification was so promptly and  vigorously
manned as to render all hope of capture by surprise vain and futile.
These operations, here rehearsed, may seem  at this distance from
will be here to-morrow, in all probability, when the cutter Bibb will be relieved at Kill
von Kull, and be despatched to the coast of New Jersey on the service you suggest,
with directions to her captain to report himself to the Collector at Perth Amboy.
I remain, with much respect, your obedient servant,
HIRAM BARNEY, Collector.
His Excellency, Charles S. Olden, Governor, &c."
16 The correspondence on this subject embraces the following:
SALEM, N. J., April 22, 1861.
"His Excellency, Governor and Commander-in-Chief:-Fort Delaware is in reality
defenceless, having only a garrison of twenty raw recruits, under the command of a
Marylander.  A  party from Salem visited it at midnight on Saturday, landed, and
shouted and hammered with stones upon the door for nearly an hour before they could
arouse a sentry. The interview with the commandant was unsatisfactory-he flying
from subject to subject, now suggesting signal guns, then withdrawing the suggestion;
then requesting a response to any firing, and withdrawing this also; and closing with
the remark that any engagement would very soon be ended, one way or the other. The
bridges and derricks without the walls render access to the Fort easy; and it is alleged
by the visitors above referred to, that forty men could have taken the Fort without
difficulty, and can, under its present auspices, take it at any time. The exposed condition of West Jersey, as well as Philadelphia, demands immediate action to secure this
position. This will be realized upon a moment's notice.     ROBERT JOHNSON,
J. INGHAM."
On April 22d, General Wool communicated to Governor Olden a request that he
would, "with the least delay practicable, send two companies of militia or volunteers
to Fort Delaware for its protection. Should but one company be prepared to move at
once, you will send it forward, to be folio-wed by the other as soon as possible." Accom.
panying this communication were instructions t tthe commanding officer of the Fort
(Captain A. A. Gibson, Second Artillery,) to receive and provide for the troops.
On the 24th of April, the following dispatch was received from the Mayor of Philad'elphia:.
"PHILADELPHIA, April 24, 1862.
"GOVERNOR OLDEN:-Major-General Patterson has detailed a Company of Artillery
for Fort Delaware. Your companies, as requested by General Wool, will not be needed
"ALEXANDER HENRY, Mayor."




32               NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
the early events of the war, to be of inconsiderable importance,
and scarcely  worth  the prominence we have given them.  Contrasted with the stupendous operations of a later time they are,
indeed, insignificant-mere  specks on  the  page  which  records
colossal labors and achievements.  But it is to be remembered that
in that early stage of the struggle, the magnitude of our task had
not been developed; the theatre of action upon which we look
now  with  unobstructed  vision, was then  obscured, neither its
immensity nor the events which have marked it being even conceived of.  Moreover, these first steps, trivial as they seem, were
as necessary as any later action; they  constituted the foundation
upon  which was afterwards reared  the magnificent structure of
patriotic sacrifice and labor which, to the latest throb of time,
will challenge the homage of the nations. In addition to all this,
it should not be forgotten that, with all the abounding patriotism
of the people, that was a period of inexperience and alarm; the
enemy was of our own household, and had matured his plans in
silence and secrecy; none could tell how far those plans extended,
or what incidental objects they contemplated. As a consequence
a measure of uncertainty and indefiniteness characterized all our
operations; we could only-the Future being a shut book-adopt
such precautions and take such steps as were obviously demanded,
and leave the issue with the Almighty Disposer of events."
17 There is no injustice, no aspersion of the popular feeling, in this statement.
Everywhere men looked with fear and trembling upon the lowering prospect. Even
the bravest felt their weakness and littleness in presence of the perils seen, and still
more in anticipation of dangers lurking in the shadows of the Future. All this was
consistent with the highest loyalty and with the loftiest faith in the wisdom and justice
of that Providence which is over all. No man, at this day, will dispute the loyalty or
conscientious rectitude of purpose of Vice President Hamlin. Amid all the outcries
of faction which, at times during the war, filled the land with a Babel of tumult, his
name was never tarnished. Yet in the days of which we speak, even he trembled with
apprehension. Understanding better than many others the situation at the national
capital, he felt keenly the danger of delay in the work of defence, and shrunk with
dread from contemplating the possibility of its capture. Influenced by this feeling, on
the 24th of April he summoned Governor Olden to meet him at the Astor House,
New York, for the purpose of consulting as to the best means of hastening the work
of defence. New Jersey being the only State that had a full brigade of troops ready to
march, Mr. Hamlin manifested the utmost anxiety for their immediate departure,
urging that they be sent to Harrisburg. He was also disturbed by the fact that arms
could not be procured to arm the volunteers so rapidly coming in, and in this he but
shared the feelings of others. It is to be added that his interview with Governor Olden
tended greatly to re-inspire him with confidence as to the issue of our troubles.




TROOPS SENT FORWARD.                          33
Meanwhile the four regiments called for, having been mustered
in, awaited orders to move.  The brigade organization had been
completed  by  the  appointment of Theodore Runyon, of the
Newark Brigade, as Brigadier General, with Major Alexander V.
Bonnel as Brigade Inspector, and Captain James B. Mulligan as Aid 
de-Camp.  General Runyon was a prominent lawyer of Newark,
about thirty-eight years of age, and had for some years manifested
a deep interest in military affairs, laboring earnestly to establish the
militia system upon a vigorous and efficient basis.  He was, however, without experience in the marshalling of troops, having
never "set a squadron a-field," or participated in active service.
But he possessed fine executive capacity, had marked firmness of
character, understood the value of discipline, comprehended the
gravity of the situation, and was, by virtue of his identification
with the military of the State, peculiarly entitled to the distinction
of the supreme command of our volunteer contingent. Other candidates applied for the position and were strenuously supported by
their partizans; but among them all, Governor Olden esteemed
General Runyon the fittest man for the place.  His commission
was issued on the 27th of April, and he at once took command.
The task before him was by no means an easy one.  That task involved the whole business of organizing, disciplining and equipping three thousand troops, many of whom  had never handled a,musket, most of whom  were totally ignorant of drill, and none
of whom knew anything practically of the rigors and discomforts
of service in the field.  Coming  into camp  with  mere holiday
soldiering experience, they were likely to be restive under their
new restraints, and to resent as invasions of personal independence
many necessary exactions of camp discipline.',  The difficulties of
18 It is to be said, however, to the credit of these early volunteers, that for the most
part they adapted themselves with marked readiness to the demands of their new situation. Upon this point, the Diary of Major James S. Yard, of the Third Regiment,
under date of May 2d, says: " It is remarkable, considering the undisciplined condition
of the volunteers, that there has been so little disorderly conduct. Of all troops, the
volunteer is the most difficult to manage, and in censuring those who are here now, let
great allowance be made. For the most part they are men who have been accustomed
to the largest liberty of speech and action up to the moment of their enlistment. It
will take weeks of drilling to reduce them to a proper degree of subordination to their
officers."
5




34               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
reducing this large body of raw and undisciplined men, each of
whom  had his own theory as to every subject which arose, were
very  great and  formidable, but General Runyon did not shrink
from the task. The volunteers, although inexperienced, had the
spirit of soldiers, and to the development of this he promptly directed all his energies.  Fortunately his efforts were warmly  and
ably  seconded  by  the  regimental commandants,l9 and  palpable
19 " The Colonel of the First Regiment was Adolphus J. Johnson, who for some years
had been connected with the militia of the city of Newark. He, subsequently, served
with distinction in the three years' service, and still wears honorable scars achieved in
the country's defence.
The Third Regiment had as its Colonel, William Napton, of Trenton, who had also
been identified with the militia organization.
The organization of the several regiments at this time was as follows:
FIRST REGIMENT.-Colonel, Adolphus J. Johnson; Lieutenant Colonel, James Peckwell; Major, William W. Michels; Adjutant, Joseph Trawin; Quartermaster, Theodore F. Ketchum; Surgeon, John J. Craven; Surgeon's Mate, Edward A. Pierson;
Sergeant-Major, George H. Johnson; Drum-Major, Nathan P. Morris; Fife-Major,
Elijah F. Lathrop; Musicians, 14. Company A-Captain, John Brintzinghoffer; First
Lieutenant, John Ward; Ensign, Alfred J. Payne. Company B-Captain, William S.
Tipson; First Lieutenant, George Sweeney; Ensign, Mark Sears. Company C-Captain, Thomas L. Martin; First Lieutenant, William C. Davis; Ensign, George T.
Woodbury. Company D-Captain, Henry 0. Beach; First Lieutenant, John Glazrie;
Ensign, George Blair. Company E —Captain, Martin B. Provost; First Lieutenant,
Alexander, Vreeland; Ensign, Garret Debow. Company F-Captain, Henry Bowden;
First Lieutenant, John E. Beam; Ensign, John B. Monroe. Company  — Captain,
Henry V. Sanford; First Lieutenant, Jesse Keen; Ensign, John H. Arcy. Company
J —Captain, William iH. Reynolds; First Lieutenant, Charles E. Mackey; Ensign,
Stephen C. Fordham. Company I-Captain, John HI. Higginson; First Lieutenant,
William H. Thompson; Ensign, John McIntee.  Cnompany K-Captain, Charles WJohnson; First Lieutenant; James B. Baird; Ensign, Ephraim Hall.
SECOND REGIMENT.-Colonel, Henry M. Baker; Lieutenant-Colonel, Abraham Speer;
Major,; Adjutant, Cornelius G. Van Reiper; Quartermaster, Henry H.
Brinkerhoff; Surgeon, John C. Quidor; Surgeon's Mate, John Longstaff; SergeantMajor, Noah D. Taylor; Drum-Major, Edward C. Woodruff; Fife-Major, William K.
Van Reiper; Musicians, 19. Company A-Captain, Garret D. Van Reiper; First Lieutenant, William D. W. C. Jones; Ensign, Richard A. Vreeland. Company — Captain,
Edward C. Hopper; First Lieutenant, James C. Mayer; Ensign, John Hopper. Company C-Captain, Frederick Grain, Jr., First Lieutenant, James H. Hughes; Ensign,
Frederick Cooper. Company D-Captain, Gustavus A. Lilliendahl; First Lieutenant,
Frederick Bischof; Ensign, Charles Bauer. Company E —Captain, John J. Van Buskirk; First Lieutenant, Hiram Van Buskirk; Ensign, James M. Simonson. Company
F —Captain, Laurent J. Tonnele; First Lieutenant, James McGuire; Ensign, John
Dugan. Company G-Captain, John Ramsay; First Lieutenant, Benjamin Van Reiper;
Ensign, Frederick T. Farrier. Company H —Captain, Edwin S. Babcock; First Lieutenant, George H. Gardner; Ensign, John Wood. Company I-Captain, John A. Vanvoorhees; First Lieutenant, Edward Kelley; Ensign, Henry J. Westcott. Company
— Captain, William B. Dunning; First Lieutenant, Peter H. Hoyt; Ensign, John G.
Langston.
THIRD REGIMENT.-Colonel, William Napton; Lieutenant-Colonel, Stephen Moore;




TROOPS SENT FORWARD.                             35
results were soon achieved. The troops came gradually to un derstand the necessity of subordination, and when the order to move
was at last given, the brigade was in all respects calculated to
reflect honor upon the State.
Major, James S. Yard; Adjutant, J. Dallas McIntosh; Surgeon, Edward F. Taylor; Surgeon's Mate, Elias J. Marsh; Quartermaster, Myron H. Beaumont; Sergeant-Major,
James Anderson; Drum Major, Joseph M. Lewis; Fife-Major, Charles A. Anderson; Musicians, 14. Company A-Captain, Joseph A. Yard; First Lieutenant, Robert S. Gould;
Ensign, Charles Ewing. Company — Captain, David Pierson; First Lieutenant, John J.
Cladek; Ensign, Charles D. Mandeville. Company C-Captain, Isaac Paul Lykens;
First Lieutenant, John W. Neal; Ensign, John R. Beatty. Company )-Captain,
Samuel Mulford; First Lieutenant, Franklin S. Mills; Ensign, Henry K. Zehner.
Company E-Captain, Ashblel'W. Angel; First Lieutenant, Aaron H. Slack; Ensign,
Isaac M. Bunnell. Company.F-Captain, John H. Smith; First Lieutenant, George H.
Green; Ensign, Abram L. Bills. Company G-Captain, Vincent W. Mount; First
Lieutenant, John W. Cottrell; Ensign, William Spain. Company H-Captain, George
A. Allen; First Lieutenant, James Gordon; Ensign, Martin Wyckoff: Company ICaptain, Simeon R. Huselton; First Lieutenant, Theophilus Stout; Ensign, William
W. Abbott. Company K —Captain, Cornelius W. Castner; First Lieutenant, Samuel
Ross; Ensign, George M. Stelle.
FOURTH REGIMENT.-Conl, Matthew Millr, Jr.; Lieuteant-Colonel, Simpson R.
Stroud; Major, Robert C. Johnson; Adjutant, William B. Hatch; Quartermaster, John
L. Linton; Surgeon, Elijah B. Woolston; Surgeon's Mate, Alvin Satterthwaite; Sergeant-Major, Samuel Keys; Drum-Major, John V. Johnson; Fife-Major, David S. Bender; Musicians, 17. Comnpany A-Captain, Henry A. Perrinc; First Lieutenant, Silas
M. Wampole; Ensign, Richard S. Moore.  Company B-Captain, Joseph Gale; First
Lieutenant, Samuel B. Gale: Ensign, William Nippins. Comnpany C-Captain, Edmund G. Jackson; First Lieutenant, William H. Maxwell; Ensign, William H. Hemsing. Company D-Captain, Joseph B. Stafford; First Lieutenant, John Cavenagh;
Ensign, Ferdinand McWilliams. Company E-Captain, Isaac W. Mickle; First Lieutenant, Philip M. Armington; Ensign, Timothy C. Moore. Company — Captain, Edward Price Hunt; First Lieutenant, Richard H. Lee; Ensign, Theodore A. Zimmerman.
Company G —Captain, John R. Cunningham; First Lieutenant, Louis M. Morris;
Ensign, Joseph L. De La Cour.  Conmpany I —Captain, John P. VanLeer; First Lieutenant, George E. Wilson; Ensign, John Willian. Company I-Captain, Clement H.
Sinnickson; First Lieutenant, George T. Ingham; Ensign, Henry F. Chew. Conompany
K-Captain, George C. Burling; First Lieutenant, Edward G. Keegan; Ensign, Joseph
Hays.
While the Brigade was absent from the State, Major A. V. Bonnell, Brigade-Inspector,
tendered his resignation, which was accepted; C. W. Tolles, Esq., was appointed
Assistant Adjutant-General for the brigade, and the following changes occurred in the
officers of the regiments: Captain Laurent J. Tonnele, Company F, Second Regiment,
resigned, and Robert Gilchrist, Jr., was elected to fill the vacancy, at Washington, May
18, 1861; Second Lieutenant Charles Bauer, of Company D, Second Regiment, also resigned, and George Knapple was elected at Beltsville, June 3, 1861, to fill the vacancy
thus occasioned. The office or Major in the Second Regiment having been vacant when
the Regiment left Trenton, Captain John J. VanBuskirk, Company E, Second Reiment, was promoted to that position June 15, 1861, at Arlington, Virginia. The vacancy thus occasioned in Company E, was filled July, 1861, at Camp Princeton, Bladensburg, Md., by the promotions of First Lieutenant Hiram VanBuskirk, Second Lieutenant James M. Simonton, and Andrew VanBuskirk, all of that Company, to the positions,
respectively, of Captain, First and Second Lieutenants.




36            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
We have said that the Government was, at this time, lamentably
unprepared for war. Of this fact, a conclusive evidence was given
in connexion with the equipment of the First New Jersey Brigade.
On the 26th of April, Secretary Cameron notified the State authorities that the Government could not furnish accoutrements for the
troops, and that consequently they would be attached for the
present to the military district commanded by Major-General Patterson; that is, they must not be moved, owing to the inability of
the Government to furnish arms or ammunition. In the same communication, the Secretary declined the offer of a volunteer battery
made by Major Hexamer, through the Governor. Yet, at this very
moment, the enemy was drilling within sight of the capital, and
the whole North stood in apprehension of an assault upon it! Our
State authorities, after this notification from the War Department,
would probably have been justified in abstaining from  further
efforts to hasten our volunteers to the field, or at least awaiting
indifferently further orders from the Government; but appreciating
as they did the exigencies of the case, they determined at once to
furnish at the expense of the State all the necessary accoutrements.
This having been determined upon, Governor Olden on the 1st of
May, despatched a special messenger to Annapolis, to communicate
with General Butler, then in command at that point, informing him
that our regiments were preparing to move, and requesting him to
make the necessary arrangements for their reception; and at the
same time another messenger was sent to Washington with despatches for the Secretary of War, informing him of the decision of
the authorities.  On the same day Secretary Cameron was apprised
by telegraph that our troops would move on the 1st, 2d and 3d of
May, and was urged to make immediate arrangements to promote
their comfort and their efficiency. All this done, one difficulty still
remained to be overcome. The State was able to equip and arm
the troops, but they were utterly destitute of ammunition, without
which all other accoutrements would be useless. Efforts were made
to procure the requisite supply from Major-General Patterson, commanding this department, and from Major-General Wool, then in
command at New York, but neither could afford any relief. Am



TROOPS SENT FORWARD.                              37
munition was not to be had from any source over which the Government had control.'9 Finally, application having been made to Mr.
Simeon Draper, of the Union  Defence Committee of New  York,
without success, the State messenger going to Mr. Blunt, of that
city, succeeded, after long importunity, in procuring (on the 3d of
May,) three thousand five hundred musket ball cartridges of the
Government standard, and one hundred  thousand percussion caps
which were at once shipped.  Thus, at last, all obstacles were sur19 " Captain Charles P. Smith was dispatched to New York to procure it (the ammunition). It was shipped from New York to Camden, after the brigade had left Trenton,
and one of the vessels carrying the troops being detailed to receive it at Camden, it
was taken on board and distributed to the troops on the other vessels as they passed
down the bay. The State also furnished rifles, with which the flank companies of the
several regiments were armed."-Report of Adjutant- General.
A gentleman familiar with the facts on this point, has supplied the following:
" The fleet which was to convey the three thousand three months' men to the seat of
war, consisted of fourteen propellers. They had reached Bordentown, en route, at the
time Baltimore was in the hands of disloyal authorities, when it was ascertained that
not a pound of powder or lead had been provided. An officer had been dispatched to
New York, but failed to report. The afternoon of the day the fleet left Bordentown,
Captain Charles P. Smith was hastily sent to New York to procure ammunition, but at
such brief notice that he had scarcely time to reach the cars, or obtain necessary credentials. After encountering and overcoming obstacles growing out of a lack of knowledge of the whereabouts of officials, he at last succeeded in securing an interview
with Simeon Draper, Chairman of the Union Safety Committee. Mr. Draper could
render no assistance. He said there was not a sufficient amount of ammunition for
New York troops; besides, the city authorities, in view of-the large quantity reported
to have been sent to the rebels, had strictly prohibited any from leaving the city. In
vain were the necessities of the case set forth. Finally tie messenger was advised to
call upon Mr. Blunt, on Broadway.  He acknowledged having control of thirty-six
thousand rounds of ball cartridges, and a large amount of percussion caps, but they
were engaged to other parties-a ship-of-war required them-the order of the city
authorities was in the way, &c. Besides, whoever got them, he must have the price
paid down. It was urged that three thousand men were even then on their way to
Washington to defend the Union, without the means of defending themselves; that a
tug was waiting at Camden upon which the messenger was to follow them to their destination, if necessary; that it was then four o'clock, and the last train by which he
could possibly overtake them would leave in the course of a few hours, &c., &c. To
all of which Mr. Blunt replied:' That may be very true, but who are you, and where
are your vouchers?' But after almost every argument and entreaty seemed exhausted,
Mr. Blunt called some one in for consultation, and they proceeded to subject the messenger to a critical examination. Finally, the matter resulted in Mr. Blunt's saying:'We will take your face for security, upon signing an instrument making yourself personally responsible.' This, of course, was gladly assented to. The ammunition was
piled upon a dray-entirely exposed to view-each box conspicuously marked on the
end with the number of rounds of musket cartridges. As Captain Smith marched off,
opposite the horses' heads,'keeping step to the music of the Union,' Mr. Blunt
called after him that he'would be arrested before reaching the foot of Cortland
street!' However, the journey was accomplished without encountering a single police
officer, and the dray was driven on the ferry boat and conveyed to Jersey City. Here
the railroad officials refused to take it in charge, alleging that it was against the rules
of the Company to carry such freight on passenger trains. They also insisted that the




38                NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
mounted, and the way was clear for the departure of our impatient
volunteers.20
freight, if taken, must be paid in advance. After considerable delay, and by dint of
importunity, the first objection was overcome, and the second met by the messenger
again signing an instrument rendering himself personally responsible. The precious
freight was safely locked in an iron crate, to be towed a long way astern, and then, for
the first time, feeling sure of success, a despatch was sent to the Governor announcing
the result. Soon after the train started a severe thunder storm came up; the night
was intensely dark, except when illumined with vivid lightning, and as the train sped
through the country to its destination, the passengers were in blissful ignorance of the
terrible secret towing astern. At Trenton, the Governor's Aid was waiting with despatches for General Runyon. The train reached Camden at half-past ten o'clock, the
storm still raging, and so intensely dark that it was impossible to ascertain whether
the flotilla had passed or not. One thing was certain-the messenger's open tug was
waiting for him. It was determined to experiment by swinging a lantern at the end of
the long wharf in the dark night and drenching rain. Fortunately the signal was observed, as the propellers were passing down the western channel, opposite the city, and
the dispatch boat' Elizabeth' came across and received on board the ammunition. So
severe was the storm that the fleet was obliged to come to anchor some miles below
the city."
20 " The First Regiment was clothed at Newark, at the expense of the State. The
Second Regiment was mostly clothed by a committee of liberal and patriotic gentlemen
of Jersey City, at their own expense, without any instructions or authority from the
State, and have not as yet made any claim for repayment of the expenditure. The
Third and Fourth Regiments were clothed entirely by the State."-QuartermasterGeneral's Report, January 14, 1862.
The whole expenditure made in organizing, equipping and transporting the four regiments of three months' men, amounted to $167,128.46, of which $63,508.50 was for
clothing, $27,120.42 for subsistence, and $27,947.64 for transportation to Annapolis.
It may be stated here that the total expense of organizing and equipping four regiments of three months' militia, five regiments of infantry, one regiment of riflemen,
one regiment of cavalry, and two companies of artillery, from their organization to
January 1st, 1862, was $902,027.20.
In reference to the clothing and equipment of the Second Regiment of militia, referred to above, we have been supplied with the following statement, which shows also
how it was raised: " On the 16th of April a meeting was called at the Hudson House
in Jersey City for the purpose of raising men for the war. Isaac W. Scudder, Esq.,
was chosen President of the meeting. Mr. Potter moved that a roll be opened for
volunteers, which was agreed to amid warm applause. James M. Weart, a student at
law, was the first to come forward and put down his name. In a few minutes the names
of thirty ardent and true men were enrolled. This meeting gave such an impulse to
the war movement that the volunteering of the Second Regiment speedily resulted.
At a meeting of citizens held on April 22d, the Mayor (Cornelius Van Vorst) in the
chair, a war committee of five was appointed, consisting of Mayor Van Vorst, Henry
Traphagen, John Griffith, Benjamin G. Clark and David Smith. This committee
equipped the Second Regiment and sent it to the field. Upon volunteering, the men
were without uniforms or equipments, and the city was without money, but the emergency was promptly met by Messrs. Griffith and Clark, who came forward and in the
most noble manner purchased all the necessary clothing and equipments, making themselves personally liable for some $30,000, trusting that the people would ultimately
raise the money and pay the bills incurred. This the citizens, through their representatives, cheerfully did, and the gentlemen named were reimbursed. The regiment was
equipped and in camp at Trenton on April 26th, less than a week after the general
meeting of citizens was held.
" The war committee above named, after the departure of the regiment, cared for the
families of the men, the citizens subscribing a large sum of money for that purpose."




CHAPTER IV.
HOSTILITIES COMMENCED-BULL RUN.
AT the time of which we write, communication with Washington
by way of Baltimore had been cut off by the burning of bridges
and the destruction of sections of the railway running  through
Maryland, and it became necessary, therefore, that the New Jersey
troops should proceed thither by way of Annapolis. After consultation it was determined' to employ the propellers plying on the
Delaware and Raritan Canal in their transportation by this route,
no other means of conveyance being available. Accordingly, on
the 2d of May, an order was issued to General Runyon directing
the embarkation of the troops " as soon as possible," and on the
same day, final instructions were issued to the commandant,2 for his
government while en route to the field.  The day  following, the
fleet (Captain R. F. Loper in command,) left Trenton, and on the
night of the 4th, arrived off Annapolis, having been greeted at all
points along the route with manifestations of pleasure.' The arrival of the Brigade was at once reported to General Butler, who,
after some ceremony, ordered its advance to Washington,~ and on
1 Mr. John G. Stevens is said to have first suggested the adoption of this route
and method of transportation.
2 In these instructions General Runyon was directed to proceed by way of the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal to Annapolis, and there report to the officer commanding
for further orders. As soon as possible, he was directed to ascertain by careful inspection any deficiencies which might exist in the arms, equipments and hospital stores of
the brigade, and to notify the State as to what was needed, if the deficiency could not
be supplied by the government. The instructions closed with this injunction: "The
honor of New Jersey is in your keeping."
s At almost every farm-house along the route the stars and stripes were displayed,
and the ladies appeared at the doors and windows, waving handkerchiefs as we passed.
They were repeatedly cheered by the troops."-Major Yard's Journal.
4 A very full and accurate account of the events which had preceded the arrival of
our troops at Annapolis, including the particulars of its seizure and occupation by
Butler, is given in the 18th chapter (vol. 1) of Lossing's " Civil War in America."




40                NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
the 5th, the First Regiment, with six companies of the Second, and
nine companies of the Third, started forward in two trains of cars.
The first of these trains reached Washington  about midnight, and
the  second  at eight o'clock  the  following  morning.   The same
evening, the Fourth Regiment, and the remaining company of the
Third, reached the capital. The four companies of the Second,
left at Annapolis, were detailed, by order of General Scott, to the
service of guarding the telegraph and railroad track between Washington and Annapolis Junction.
On the 6th of May, the arrival of the Brigade was reported to
General Scott, and no camps being provided, the troops went into
such quarters as were available in Washington.  On  all sides the
arrival of the troops was hailed with pleasure.   Men felt that now
the capital was safe.6   These three thousand Jerseymen, thorough5 Captain W. B. Dunning, of the Third Regiment, furnishes the following outline of
the experience of the detachment which was assigned for service in Maryland:
"Upon arriving at Annapolis, companies D, E, I and K were detailed for guard duty
at the Naval School, while the other six companies made themselves comfortable in
the mansions formerly occupied by the Professors. The Regiment was ordered to proceed to Washington on the night of its arrival, and the companies on guard, not being
relieved in time, were left behind. The next day, Captain Mulligan, of General Runyon's staff, arrived from Washington, and arranging for the relief of the remaining
companies, they took cars for the Washington branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; companies D and K were put off at Beltsville, thirteen miles from Washington,
and E and I at Hyattsville, six miles from Washington, with orders to guard the railroad from Laurel to the city of Washington, a distance of about seventeen miles. And
here these four companies remained three months-the first month without tents, and
nearly the same period of time without rations. Thanks to General Butler, however,
these wants were soon supplied when brought to his notice. Occasional alarms, some
real and others fancied, relieved the monotony of the lonely pickets as they patrolled
their beats; but nothing occurred of a serious nature during the term. LieutenantColonel Speer was in command of the detachment, with his headquarters at the residence of Mr. Hyatt (a Jerseyman), at Hyattsville, near Bladensburg."
A letter from a member of this detachment, dated at Beltsville, Maryland (12 miles
from Washington), May 8, gives the following glimpse of the impoverished commissariat: "Our first meal here-supper-consisted of smoked beef and crackers; our
next-breakfast-of only coffee and crackers, or sea-bread. There was salt pork for
dinner, and a pound and a-half of rice for twenty-five men. For breakfast this morning we had a cup of coffee and three small crackers each. All this time we are doing
hard duty. * * * * The population about here is nearly equally divided between
Unionists and secessionists. The latter don't like the presence of troops. It is said
that two bridges which we guard would lave been destroyed but for our timely arrival."
6 The Vational Intellqencer (Washington) thus referred to the brigade upon its arrival
in that city:
"The whole brigade, with its four pieces of artillery, arrived at Annapolis on Sun



HOSTILITIES COMMENCED-BULL RUN.                            41
ly armed  and equipped, as no  regiments previously arrived had
been, could be relied upon to repel all assaults. New Jersey never
stood higher in the estimation of the loyal people of the country
than at that juncture, when she sent to the nation's defence the first
full brigade of troops that reached the field.  The Government was
especially cordial in its expression of satisfaction.' Two days after
its arrival, the Brigade paraded the city, and was everywhere hailed
with the liveliest demonstrations of enthusiasm by the populace.s
As was, perhaps, to be expected, great difficuly was at first experienced in the commissariat, no adequate provision having been made
by the Government for supplying the wants of the troops, and some
days were required to produce system in the issue of rations, and
remove all cause for complaint.9  Some dissatisfaction  also existed
day, May 5th, in twenty'eight hours from Trenton, and proceeded direct for Washington. It is stated that the fourteen transports, with a strong convoy, commander
F. R. Loper, made a splendid appearance, steaming in two lines down the Chesapeake.
They had been greeted by a great Union demonstration as they passed along the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. They are armed with the Minid musket, but are to have
the Minid rifle and sword-bayonet. The splendid stand of colors brought with them
was presented to the (First) Regiment by the High School in Washington street,
Newark, just prior to their depa. ture for Washington. This regiment is composed of
some of the best men in the State, and in athletic appearance, as well as general soldierly deportment, are a credit to the country."
In a letter to the Executive, referring to the exertions of this State in aid of the
General Government, the Secretary of War used the following language: "For your
prompt and patriotic response to the call of the General Government, I tender to yourself and the people of New Jersey my sincere and heartfelt thanks;" and in a subsequent letter he says: " Allow me to tender you the thanks of this department for the
very prompt and efficient manner in which you, and the people of your State, have
responded to the requisition made upon you."
s8 " This afternoon (May 7), at short notice, the whole New Jersey Brigade was paraded and marched to the White House, where we were reviewed by the President,
General Scott, and members of the Cabinet.  It is seldom that four regiments of
soldiers have appeared on parade together in this country, and it was a novel sight to
the citizens of Washington. Some thought the whole force here was out, so large appeared the numbers under arms, and they were incredulous when informed that they
were all Jerseymen. The troops all behaved well, and made a creditable appearance.
All along the route they were cheered by the citizens, who lined the streets to witness
the spectacle. I heard a great many compliments passed on their appearance, drill,
equipments, &c., and all agreed that New Jersey had done nobly. It appears that
most of the troops that have been sent here were without uniforms and other equipments, and in some cases were without arms-as one gentleman remarked, they looked
more like a mob than like soldiers. The contrast, therefore, between them and the
Jerseymen, was very great."-Major Yard's Journal.
9 "May 12, 1861.-This morning, Captain George B. Raymond reported himself with
a commission from the Governor of New Jersey as Brigade Quartermaster."-Extract
from Journal of the New Jersey Brigade. Captain Raymond had been engaged for ten
6




42               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
among the men as to the quality of their arms, but the Government
as rapidly as possible supplied them with percussion muskets, and
deficiencies in clothing and equipments were also met by supplies
forwarded by the State authorities.  On the 9th, the Fourth Regiment was ordered to go into camp at Meridian Hill, and within a
few days the entire Brigade was encamped at that point, where, on
the 12th, it was honored by a visit from the President, who warmly
complimented  the appearance of the troops.10  At this point, the
army life of the volunteers commenced in earnest, the utmost exactness being required in all points of discipline.  All the hard
routine of camp duties was daily observed. The work of the soldier was found to be something more than mere festival employment. It demanded every energy, the fullest devotion, the loftiest
self-sacrifice.
The Brigade remained  at Camp Monmouth, perfecting its drill
and general soldierly accomplishments, until May 22d, when an
order was received from  General Mansfield, commanding the Department of Washington, directing that immediate preparations be
made for a movement.  The day following definite orders from  the
same authority supplied the needed information as to the objective
of the proposed movement, and the camp was accordingly abandays previous to this time in superintending the forwarding of supplies, and other similar service, and was ordered to do duty as Brigade Quartermaster, at the request of
General Runyon, with a view of organizing and giving efficiency to that department of
the service. Colonel Joseph W. Allen, afterwards connected with the Ninth Regiment,
was employed in the same service, as was also General N. N. Halsted, who was among
the Governor's m'ost valuable assistants in the organization of the early regiments,
superintending the transportation of nearly all of them, and laboring incessantly for
nearly two years without any compensation whatever, and to the neglect of his own
interests.
10 " During the afternoon, while busy in arranging the camp, we were surprised by a
visit from Mr. Lincoln, Secretaries Chase and Seward, and C. M. Clay, of Kentucky.
The party was recognized by the soldiers, the news spread, and they crowded eagerly
around; directly they burst into three cheers for President Lincoln. He bowed in
acknowledgment of the compliment, and then in a free-and-easy way waved his hand
toward Mr. Seward, saying:'This is the Secretary of State-give him three cheers.'
It was done, and he then turned towards Mr. Chase, saying:' This is the paymaster,
who gives you your pay-three cheers for him;' and again turning, pointed to Mr.
Clay, saying:' And now three cheers for Old Kentuck.' The boys responded heartily,
and the President and his party seemed to enjoy it highly. After a few words of compliment, and interchange of bows, they walked off as unceremoniously as they came."
— Journal of alVajor Yard.




HOSTILITIES COMMENCED-BULL RUN.              43
doned. In order that this movement may be understood, reference
must be had to events and operations elsewhere.
From the outset of the rebellion, its chiefs had regarded the
capture of Washington as of the highest importance, and had
accordingly directed all their preparations to that end. By the
tenth of May, some eighteen thousand troops, more or less efficiently equipped, were moving toward Virginia. As rapidly as
possible, these troops were hurried to Manassas Junction, a point of
great strategic importance, commanding the grand Southern railway route connecting Washington and Richmond, and also the
road leading to the Shenandoah Valley beyond the Blue Ridge.
Being thirty miles distant in a direct line from the National Capital, it had been foreseen by many Federal officers that the occupation of this point was of the utmost consequence to us, as a key to
our whole system  of defence, but in the tardiness, amounting
almost to paralysis, which characterized the movements of the
Commander-in-Chief, the position was not seized, but left to be
occupied by the enemy, who in after days was only dislodged at
the cost of thousands of precious lives. Nor did the rebels stop
here. Moving expeditiously and quickly, they pushed their lines
almost to the border of the Potomac, and even sought to fortify
Arlington Heights, whence heavy guns would command the cities
of Washington and Georgetown.  Had they succeeded in this
purpose, it is not too much to say that the most fatal consequences
must have followed.  The Capital must have fallen into their
hands, and the whole character of the war. with all the archives
and property of the Government in their possession, would have
been changed.  Fortunately, however, their design was detected
in time to prevent its consummation. The discovery showed, with
startling clearness, the grave mistake of the purely defensive
policy which General Scott had hitherto pursued, and he was at
last induced to consent to an immediate advance into Virginia.
There were then in and around Washington some 13,000 national
troops, under command of General Mansfield, and to him, on the
22d of May, orders were issued for the occupation of the Virginia
shore of the Potomac, and also of the city of Alexandria, nine




44              NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
miles below. It was to participate in this movement that the New
Jersey troops, on the 23d of May, struck their tents and abandoned
their camp on Meridian Hill.
The order issued to General Runyon required him to have his
brigade at the Long Bridge at 2 o'clock on the morning of the
24th. Accordingly, at the evening parade, the Second, Third and
Fourth Regiments" were paraded in heavy marching order, and
being supplied with one day's rations, at about midnight took up
the line of march in silence for the bridge, which was reached at
the hour appointed.  The invading column at this point numbered
six regiments, with several companies of local militia, to whom
was assigned the work of driving the insurgent pickets from the
route over which the main body was to pass. The passage of the
bridge was effected in silence, only the muffled tread of the troops
disturbing the slumber6us night.'2  The bridge being crossed, the
Second Regiment was posted at Roach's Spring, and the Third and
Fourth about half a mile beyond on the Alexandria road-the
Third being located near Abingdon House, the mansion of Bushrod
W. Hunter, formerly a Lieutenant in the United States Navy.
Immediately upon the arrival of the brigade, details were made to
construct a fortification which had been staked out by Government
engineers at the junction of the Columbia and Alexandria roadsthe remainder of the troops remaining under arms until daylight.
The brigade headquarters were established near Columbia Springs,
and tents being supplied by the Government, the troops went into
11 The First Regiment did not cross until the following day.
12 "At twelve and a quarter o'clock, the regiment was formed on the parade ground,
in silence. The moon was shining brightly, and there was not a cloud in the sky. At
twelve and three-quarters the order to march was given. The long lines filed slowly
out of camp and down the road, their bayonets gleaming in the moonlight, and no
sound save the measured tramp of nearly a thousand feet. * * Through the city,
past Willard's Hotel, tramp, tramp we went, and scarcely a soul to be seen outside of
our dark column. As we left the encampment, the Second and Fourth Regiments fell
in behind us. After passing Willard's, we found the Seventh New York Regiment,
standing in line in the street; we passed them, and presently passed a battery of flying
artillery, and then a troop of cavalry, and then we came to the bridge over the Potomac.
On we went, tramp, tramp, over the bridge. At ten minutes before three o'clock our
feet struck the soil of old Virginia. The whole length of the bridge was guarded by
armed men, and troops lined both sides of the road for some distance after we crossed.
After proceeding along the line of a railroad about two miles, we took possession of a
hill, and came to a halt."-Major Yard's Letters.




HOSTILITIES COMMENCED-BULL RUN.                           45
camp along the Heights which had been, by this movement, saved
from the rebel clutch.
Thus at last a secure lodgment of national troops was effected
on the soil of Virginia.  Alexandria had been captured, and the
enemy, for the time being, was driven from the line of the Potomac.  No point occupied by our troops was of greater strategic
importance than that held by the New Jersey Brigade, and this
fact, while illustrating the confidence of the Commander-in-Chief
in their trustworthiness, also imposed extraordinary responsibility
as well as unexpected labors.   Immediately upon the establishment of the lines on the 24th, details from all the regiments were
put to work in constructing entrenchments and redoubts,"1 and it is
among the chief honors of this brigade that the first regular work
constructed by the national troops at the beginning of the war, and
the first over which the nation's flag was fling out, was completed
by the brawny arms of Jerseymen, many of whom were altogether
unaccustomed to manual labor, but all of whom  worked with unflagging  vigor and  industry  with the tools at their command.'4
During the whole period of the war, these works stood as monuments of the muscular activity and vigor of our volunteers; and
it was only just that the principal fortification, having been  built
exclusively by Jerseymen, should be named, as it was, Fort Runyon,
and so known ever after.'5
13 These defences extended from Roach's Spring, on the Washington and Alexandria
road, across Arlington Heights.
1 "The whole of the New Jersey Brigade have been actively employed upon the
fortifications; their labors have been unceasing from six a. m. to seven p. m. every
day since the work began. The men work three hours at a time, and every company in
the brigade has to do its share of the labor, besides its other duties of guard, &c. There
is very little, if any, complaint of the labor; as far as I can learn, the men do it cheerfully. It is a work of considerable magnitude, and covers many acres of ground. It
will command all the approaches to Washington from this quarter."-Extract from a
letter dated June 1.
A subsequent letter by the same writer, dated June 10th, says:
"The work on the fortifications is rapidly approaching completion. Several magazines
for ammunition have been constructed during the past week." Five days later the
same person writes: "Seventeen guns have been mounted at the fortifications, and
several more are on the ground."
15 This name was selected by the troops under authority of a letter from E. D. Townsend, Assistant Adjutant-General of the army, directing that the troops employed on
the entrenchments be permitted to name them.




46               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
Being now, so to speak, in an enemy's country, extraordinary
vigilance was at all points necessary, and General Runyon promptly put his command in trim  for any emergency that might arise.
The issue of passes was strictly forbidden, the discharge of fire-arms
prohibited, and stated drills, with special reference to loadings and
firings, bayonet practice, and resistance to cavalry, required of
all the troops not otherwise employed.   Orders looking  to  the
prevention of pillage and violence were also issued, and the inviolability of private property was sacredly maintained.16   Attention
was also given to the matter of sanitary police, and in other respects the exactest discipline and attention to soldierly duties was
enforced. The result of this vigorous enforcement of military law
was soon apparent in the improvement of the brigade in all the
features of proficiency. Nor were the morals of the men overlooked.  Religious services were frequently held, and care was taken to
exclude from  the camps everything calculated to  lead  the men
16 HEADQUARTERS NEW JERSEY BRIGADE, }
CAMP PRINCETON, June 2cl, 1861. (
General Order No. 25.
The peculiar character of the present service renders it proper that the attention of
officers and men be directed to the necessity of observing, with the most scrupulous
exactness, the riglts of private property of the people of the States in which the
troops may be. Our errand and purpose is to liberate the loyal from a reign of terror,
and to restore to the Government that property which, belonging to the whole people
of the United States, has been wrested from them by the traitorous hand of lawless and
reckless violence. We are not in an enemy's country. We are bound by every consideration to regard the rights of persons and property here as elsewhere. There must be
no plundering, pillage or wanton destruction. When discovered, it shall not go unpunished. Any interference with private property will be visited with speedy and exemplary severity upon the offender, and it is especially enjoined upon all officers to report
with the utmost dispatch all cases of illegal interference by persons belonging to their
commands with the property of citizens of States where the force may be located.
By command of
Brigadier-General THEODORE RUNYON."
Subsequently, a board was constituted to estimate and report the amount, kind and
value of all private property taken and used, and of the damage done in any way to
such property by reason of the occupation of that section of country by New Jersey
troops. All persons whose property had been occupied were notified to present their
claims, when the board made a personal inspection of the damage done. One man
handed in a claim for $1,900 for damages to his fences and crops, whose whole property,
houses, lands and stock, was not found worth that amount. Attempts at imposition,
of this nature, were frequent during the early stages of the war, and there was for a
time a disposition to liberality in the estimate of damages, but this feeling in due time
gave way for the rule that disloyal owners had no right to claim damages at the hands
of a Government which they were endeavoring to destroy.




HOSTILITIES COMMENCED-BULL RUN.                      47
astray-a notable act of the commanding General in this direction
being the destruction of all the liquor-shops within his reach.'
On the 18th of June an order was received from  General McDowell (who on May 27th had notified General Runyon that he
had taken command of that department), directing that the headquarters of the brigade be changed, and two regiments moved to a
new position about three miles from Camp Princeton. Accordingly, the First and Third Regiments were advanced to a point near
Roach's Mill, on the line of the Alexandria and Loudon railway,
leavings the fortifications and Arlington Heights in the rear, and
within five miles of the picket-guard of the enemy.  On the 20th,
a further order from  General McDowell directed the command to
be held in readiness to march. An engagement having occurred a
few days before at Vienna, (June 17th) and the enemy being known
to be in considerable force in front, this order was generally accepted as indicating an advance of our army, and the excitement among
the troops was consequently  great, all manifesting the utmost
eagerness to march. But this expectation was not immediately
realized. The brigade remained in the same position as before until July 16th, when the First Regiment was advanced to a point
three miles beyond Springfield, and detachments from other Regiments were detailed for duty at other points in advance of the line
then  occupied.  The first grand  advance of the Army of the
Potomac had commenced.
We have seen that the insurgents, among their earliest offensive
measures, took possession of Manassas Junction, with a view  of
17 Extracts from General Order No. 41:
"It is meet that we who come forth to battle in the name of civil and religious liberty, should acknowledge by external acts of devotion our dependence upon the Lord of
Hosts. If He be with us, who can be against us? The General commanding this
brigade takes this occasion to express his deep gratification at the cheerful attention
given to this matter by officers and men of the command."
Meetings for prayer, as well as the regular Sabbath service, were held in all the regiments, the effect being most salutary. The Chaplains of the regiments were the following: Rev. A. St. John Chambre, appointed by the Colonel of the First Regiment; Rev.
Matthew B. Riddle, appointed by the Colonel of the Second Regiment; Rev. John L.
Janeway, appointed by the Colonel of the Third Regiment; Rev. Martin E. Harmstead,
appointed by the Colonel of the Fourth Regiment; Rev. George H. Doane, appointed
by the Governor. These appointments were made immediately upon the passage of an
act authorizing the same, and the reverend gentlemen joined the brigade in Virginia.




48            NEW'JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
moving thence upon Washington. Disappointed in that design,
they nevertheless held tenaciously to their position, and by the first
of June had thirty thousand troops gathered at that point, or
rather at Bull Run. Considerable bodies of troops had also been
concentrated in the Shenandoah Valley, having fallen back from
Harper's Ferry and vicinity before an advancing column of Union
troops under Major-General Patterson. Along Bull Run the lines
of the enemy occupied a front of about eight miles, extending
from Union Mill to the stone bridge of the Warrentown turnpike.
This position was admirable for defence, the rocky, wooded and
precipitous banks of the stream, with its deep bed, forming-except at the fords, which were long distances apart-an almost impassable barrier for troops. Ten miles in advance of this main
line, the enemy had strong pickets and slight fortifications at the
village of Fairfax Court House, while at Centreville, a village on
the west side of a ridge running nearly parallel with the general
course of Bull Run, and some five or six miles east of that
stream, they had constructed strong earth-works, which were occupied by a brigade of South Carolina troops. Thus the insurgents
commanded a superior position, and were in sufficient force to
dispute the advance of any force not their equal in numbers or
judiciously handled.
But while the enemy was thus marshalling his forces and preparing for decisive movements, the Government and loyal people
had not been idle. The obstinate incredulity as to the imminence
of civil war, which had at first prevailed, had been entirely dissipated by actual collisions at various points in the field, and from
all the Northern and Eastern States troops had been rapidly poured
into Washington and organized for actual service. By the middle
of July, an army of at least fifty thousand men had been gathered
in the vicinity of the Capital. Unfortunately, however, many of
these troops had enlisted only for three months, and had but a
week or two to serve at the date when it was determined to advance. The regiments composed of volunteers for " three years or
the war," were for the most part without discipline, having but
recently arrived, and some of them being not even brigaded. There




HOSTILITIES COMMENCED-BULL RUN.                     49
was, moreover, a lamentable deficiency in cavalry, and the regular
troops, who had seen service, numbered less than one thousand.
Thus, the only safe reliance of the Commanding General was the
three months' contingent.   But the exigency was pressing-the
necessity for a movement imperative, and on the 15th of July, the
order for an advance was given.
It is safe to say that no army of modern times has marched
afield with higher hopes or more lofty purpose than this. It was
animated throughout by the truest spirit of patriotism. It rejoiced,
with an almost romantic eagerness, in the opportunity to defend
the flag; rejoiced, as a child rejoices to do kindly offices for the
mother whose love blesses and enriches it. It represented the instinct of national unity glowing in the hearts of the people, and
longed to interpret into deeds the emotions of loyalty and pride
which beat in the pulses of all true men and women everywhere.
It meant to decorate death, if need be, in the Nation's defence, by
the "braveries of faith" in that Nation's cause.  It saluted the
royal occasion which came to it, first of all our armies, with jubilant welcomes.  It followed with undoubting confidence the standards which led the way to the scene of conflict. This much the
historian must, in the merest justice, say of this army of volunteers, not a few of whom in that beginning of the strife sealed
with their blood their devotion to the cause, and thousands of
whom, in later days, displayed in the white battle-heats a heroism
which has nowhere been matched.  But with all this, that young
army was not prepared for battle. Its spirit was noble; but its
organization was crude, lacking homogeneity-the one grand and
essential requisite of all armies-and neither in its arms nor capacity
for their use was it in any respect qualified for the work to which
it was called. It was, as to organization, a great mob, and that it
failed, in the crucial moment. was a misfortune, indeed, but hardly
a dishonor.'8
18 " This army was composed of excellent material, in a very crude state. With the
exception of the regulars, the men were instructed in'only the rudiments of military
tactics and discipline, and a large portion of their officers were no wiser than they.
The cardinal virtue of a thorough soldier, obedience, had yet to be acquired. Officers
and men, in many cases, had been social companions, and the latter were restive under
7




50               NEiV JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
The forces engaged in the advance were organized in five divisions.  The first, under General Daniel Tyler, consisted of four
brigades and four batteries; the second, under Colonel David Hunter, consisted of two brigades and two eight-pounder batteries; the
third  under Colonel S. P. Heintzelman, of three  brigades and
two batteries.  The fourth and fifth divisions constituted the reserve, and  were commanded  respectively by  Brigadier-General
Runyon and Colonel Dixon S. Miles.  The first of these reserve
divisions consisted, originally, of the four New Jersey three months'
regiments, and of the First, Second and Third three years' regiments, which had reached the field a few days previous to the
movement.  Being in the reserve, these troops were not expected
to participate in active fighting unless the necessities of the case
should require it, but were to be employed in other important services, such as guarding lines of communication and protecting ammunition and provision trains-services almost as hazardous, under
some circumstances, as actual engagement. The advance having
been ordered on the 15th, Tyler's Division moved forward, on the
day following, to Vienna, where it encamped for the night, and on
the  17th  was followed  by  the  whole  army, marching in  four
columns, all having Fairfax Court House as their objective.  This
point was reached  about noon, when Tyler's Division advanced
restraints imposed by the former. In comparison with the same army two years later,
McDowell's force appears little better than a huge mob, with noble instincts, but
having no adequate conception of the grave duties laid upon it."-Lossing's History.
"I got everything with great difficulty. Some of my regiments came over very late;
some of them not till the very day I was to move the army. I had difficulty in getting
transportation. In fact, I started out with no baggage train, with nothing at all for the
tents, simply transportation for the sick and wounded and the munitions. The supplies were to go on afterwards. * * * * I had no opportunity to test my machinery; to move it around and see whether it would work smoothly or not. In fact,
such was the feeling that when I had one body of eight regiments of troops reviewed
together, the General (Scott) censured me for it, as if I was trying to make some show.
I did not think so. There was not a man there who had ever maneuvered troops in
large bodies. There was not one in the army; I did not believe there was one in the
whole country; at least, I knew there was no one there who had ever handled thirty
thousand troops. I wanted very much a little time; all of us wanted it. We did not
have a bit of it. The answer was:' You are green, it is true; but they are green also;
you are all green alike.' WTe went on in that way."-General McDowell's testimony befbre the Committee on the Conduct of the War..
"The men were not used to marching; they stopped every moment to pick blackberries, or to get water." —bid.




HOSTILITIES COMMENCED-BULL RUN.                         51
two miles further, going into camp at the little village of Germantown.  Meanwhile, General Runyon, as we have already seen, had
on the 16th sent the First Regiment of his brigade to a point occupied by our pickets on the Orange and Alexandria railroad three
miles beyond Springfield, where they acted as a guard to a party
engaged in repairing the railway.'9 On the same day four hundred
and twenty-five men of the Third Regiment were detailed as an escort to a provision train, en route for the main body of the army.20
At the same time, a guard was detailed from  the Fourth Regiment
for another section of the railroad which it was important to hold.
Another detail of one company from this regiment was then guardinog the Long Bridge, and still another on duty at Arlington Mills.
The remainder of the regiment was ordered to proceed to Alexandria, together with the Second (three months') Regiment.  Colonel
Taylor, commanding the Third (three years') Regiment was at the
same time ordered to march to a point on the Orange and Alexan19 The Brigade Journal has the following entry:
" HEADQUARTERS, CAMP TRENTON, July 16th, 1861.
" Received from the headquarters of the department this morning the following despatch:'Order at once one of your regiments forward on the Orange and Alexandria railroad
to a point occupied by our pickets, three miles beyond Springfield. The regiment is
to act as a guard for the repairers of the road, now being pushed forward with the utmost dispatch. Dated at Arlington, July 16th, and addressed to General Runyon.
Signed J. B. Fry, A. A. G.'
"In pursuance of this ordered the First (three months') Regiment to the duty required, with one day's rations."
20 The following entry appears on the same page of the Journal:
"Received the following:' ALEXANDRIA, July 16, 1861.'To General Runyon: I am directed from the headquarters of the Department to
send to you for an escort for two provision trains. If the number is not designated
already, will you please have four hundred and twenty-five men here before sundown
this evening?                                G. BELL, Captain and A. C. S.'
"Pursuant to the above, issued an order to Colonel Napton (Third Regiment) to
detail the required number under his own command or one of his field officers, with
one day's rations."
From a letter to the Monmouth Democrat, from Major Yard, of the Third Regiment,
it appears that this detachment was detailed, and guarded two trains. The first train
consisted of a herd of ninety-one beef cattle and fifty-seven large wagons heavily
loaded, each drawn by four horses. The column started about nine o'clock at night,
and at six the next morning entered Fairfax, the army having marched for Manassas.
The second detachment of the same regiment conducted a train several miles beyond
Fairfax-both detachments returning to camp upon the performance of the service
assigned.




52               NEW  JERSEY AND THE RE1ELLION.
dria Railroad,2' and during the night following the First and Second
(three years') Regiments were moved forward to Vienna. On the
same day the division headquarters were transferred to Alexandria,
and instructions were issued to the DeKalb Regiment, which had
become attached to the division, with other troops hereafter to be
named, to keep a guard at all times on the railroad from Camp
Trenton, the former headquarters, to Arlington Mills. On the 17th
orders were issued to all the regiment in the command to provide
themselves with two days' cooked rations, and on the 18th General
Runyon formally assumed command of all the troops not on the
march to the front.2
Meanwhile, operations at the front were going actively forward.
On the morning of the 18th, General Tyler's Division moved forward from Germantown in the direction of Bull Run pushing unopposed through Centreville, and halting in a valley beyond.
Later in the day, he advanced toward Blackburn's Ford, where he
found the insurgents in force  and an engagement followed, resulting in the withdrawal of our troops, with some loss, to Centreville.
Here General McDowell at once concentrated  all his available
forces, some thirty thousand in all, not including the reserve under
General Runyon, ancT made final dispositions for a formidable advance. Intending to move on the 20th, the previous day was occupied in making a thorough reconnoissance, but his supplies failing
to arrive, the movement was delayed until the morning of the 21st,
21 "HEADQUARTERS FOURTH DIVISION, July 16th.
Special Order NTo. 2.
"Colonel Taylor of the Third Regiment of three years New Jersey volunteers will
proceed with all practicable dispatch, in light marching order, up the Orange and Alexandria railroad to a point occupied by our pickets, about three miles beyond Springfield, or thereabouts, to report to the railroad manager there for duty.
" By order of Brigadier-General THEO. RUNYON."
22 General Order No. 4, under date of " Headquartcrs Army of N. E. Virginia, Alexandria, July 18th, 1861, announces this fact as follows:
"In compliance with General Order No. 17 from the department of North East Virginia, the undersigned, commanding the Fourth Division of the Army of North East
Virginia, assumes command of all the troops not on the march to the front, including
those within the various fortifications and camps. * * X X X * *
THEODORE RUNYON,
Brigadier-General commanding Fourth Division."




HOSTILtTtES COMMENCEr-T)-1LL UT N.                    53
when the three divisions advanced, in the bright moonlight, to the
attack of the enemy.
In assuming command of all the troops not actually ordered to
the front, General Runyon's sphere of duties was greatly enlarged
and his responsibilities correspondingly increased.  He was expected not only to keep open the line of communication with General
McDowell's army, but from time to time, as he might be ordered,
to forward reinforcements, thus diminishing steadily his available
force while not relieving him in the least from the necessary performance of the principal task assigned him. Nor was this all.
With many of the troops which now passed under his command,
he had hitherto had no relation whatever; and of course knew
nothing as to their efficiency or the trustworthiness of their officers.
Besides, the command being suddenly devolved upon him, he had
not been able to consult with McDowell as to his general plans or
the possible exigencies of the conflict, and was, in fact, during the
actual progress of the battle, unsupplied with any information at
all as to the real situation of affairs. Thus his position was one of
the extremest difficulty, and his duties of a character requiring the
very highest executive qualities. He did not, however, so far as
the records show, shrink from  the prodigious task imposed upon
him.
The troops actually under General Runyon's command at this
critical and important period, numbered thirteen regiments, comprising, perhaps, ten thousand men. Of these, the term of service
of some four thousand would expire within a week, and that of
one regiment within two days after his assumption of the command.23  His preparations, however, went regularly forward, every
23 "HEADQUARTERS, ALEXANDRIA, July 19, 1861.-Received the following despatch
from Captain J. B. Fry, A. A. G., dated at Centreville, July 19:'The General commanding directs you to send two regiments to Fairfax Station to
guard it as soon as the railroad is open to that place, and that you station three other
regiments at such places on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, and points to the left
or south of it, as will best protect it. You will also see that the track and telegraph
wires are protected.'Report what is the station of your troops, on receipt of this.'"
"The following reply was sent:'Yours of this date is just at hand. I will, as directed, station two regiments at
Fairfax Station as soon as the railroad is completed to that place. I will also station




54:NEW  JERSEY  AND  THE REBELLION.
call upon him  being promptly met.  On the 21st of July, the day
on which the army advanced to the attack, he forwarded the DeKalb Regiment-part of whom   were Jerseymen-together with
the First, Second and Third (three years') New Jersey Regiments,
and the First (three months') Regiment to Centreville, in obedience
to orders from  General McDowell.2'  In the evening of the same
day, orders being  received  to  cease sending  reinforcements, the
battle having been lost, the forts were at once placed in readiness
to receive the enemy should he pursue our retiring columns, and
every possible preparation was made to retrieve, so far as possible,
the misfortunes of the day. On the 22d, orders were sent to the
guard at Long Bridge to pass neither officers nor privates of the
retreating forces, nor others.  The captain of the brig Perry, lying
the other regiments on the left or south of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad for its
protection. I go over the road this afternoon, for the purpose of making the disposition. The tracks and wires are all well protected now.' My troops are now stationed as follows: First and Second three years' New Jersey
Volunteers, at Vienna; Third three years' New Jersey Volunteers, guarding repairers and repairing the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, advancing to Fairfax Station
and guarding railroad and telegraph repairers; Second three months' New Jersey
Militia, six companies, at Alexandria; Third three months' New Jersey Militia (part,
200,) guarding provision trains-balance at Camp Trenton; Fourth three months' New
Jersey Militia, guarding the Orange and Alexandria Railroad from Alexandria to Springfield-some companies on Loudon and Hampshire Railroad, and at Arlington Mills and
Long Bridge; the DeKalb Regiment, part guarding Loudon and Hampshire Railroad,
the balance at Camp Trenton; Fifth Pennsylvania (term of service expires next Friday),
at Alexandria, to be replaced by the Mozart Regiment; Seventeenth New York, in Fort
Ellsworth; Twenty-First New York, in Fort Runyon; Twenty-Eighth New York, in
Fort Corcoran; Twenty-Fifth New York, at Fort Albany. These troops have all been
stationed where they are pursuant to directions from Department Headquarters. The
guard for provision train was furnished at request of Captain Bell.'It will be seen that the DeKalb Regiment, part of Third New Jersey three months'
Regiment (time expires 21st inst.), Fifth Pennsylvania and six companies of the Second
New Jersey three months' Regiment (time expires 26th inst.), arc all the troops I have
left here out of earthworks, and it will take them all to comply with your order for
three regiments on left or south of Orange and Alexandria Railroad.' "-General Runyon's Journal.
24 "Special Orders, No. 3.
"To Colonel Von Gilsa, commanding DeKalb Regiment: You will proceed with your
command immediately to Centreville, by the railroad to Fairfax Station, and thence to
march.  You will report to Captain James B. Fry, Assistant Adjutant-General."
(Dated at Alexandria, July 21, and signed, "By command of Brigadier-General Theodore Runyon.")
A similar order to Colonel Montgomery of the First New Jersey (three years') Regiment, directed him to " march his command to Centreville, by way of Germantown,
starting as soon as possible after receipt of this order."  Colonel Montgomery received
this order early in the morning. A similar order reached the Second (three years')
Regiment at eight o'clock.




HOSTILITIES COMMENCED-BULL RUN.                 55
off Alexandria, was also directed to remove all means of water
communication, in order that stragglers might be brought to bay.
Bodies of troops having, during the night, reached Alexandria in
an unorganized condition, they were posted in position to render
service. The pickets were strengthened, the garrisons placed on
the alert, and a complete system of defence promptly organized.
All these steps, it is to be remembered, were taken in the face of
the gravest peril, and surrounded by all the confusion and panic of
a disastrous retreat.  The army which marched out with courageous front to grapple with the enemy had been defeated, and was
dissolving into disordered fragments Which the highest skill could
scarcely reunite. The story of that battle it is not for us to rehearse in these pages, except in so far as our own troops were
participants in it; and we gladly abstain from the recital. The
repulse was complete.  With some regiments, when the decisive
blow had been struck, the retreat was not an orderly flight, but a
reckless, uncontrollable rout.  Arms, ammunition, baggage, everything, was abandoned in the mad flight to a place of safety.
Frightened teamsters cut loose their horses, mounted them, and
rode affrighted away, leaving their wagons to obstruct the roads.
Carriages in which civilians had gone out to witness the fight, as
men flock to a race course on fete days, became entangled in the
flying masses of men, and added to the confusion.  It was, for a
time, a saturnalia of panic, fright and disorder.  The simple statement of these incidents of the day is sufficient to show that the
task which fell to the share of New Jersey's General was one of
most formidable magnitude.
It has pleased some historians, speculating upon the events of
that memorable day, to stigmatize the failure of General Runyon
to despatch all his available reserves to the front, as evidence of
incapacity and unfitness for command. Why, it has been enquired,
were ten thousand effective men, who panted for the fray, held
inactive far to the rear, when their presence on the field might have
turned the tide of disaster, and broken, by one overwhelming blow,
the power of the hostile Confederacy? The answer to this enquiry,
so repeatedly and, often so offensively made, is simple and conclu



56               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
sive. The regiments in reserve were stationed in precise accordance
with the orders of the commander-in-chief, and performed precisely
the service to which they were assigned.  All the evidence shows
that, in this respect, every detail of the plan of battle so far as
General Runyon was concerned and so far as he was apprised of
the programme, was faithfully executed.2^ But he did not merely
exhibit a rigid adherence to actual orders; the moment that adverse
reports were received from the field, he promptly anticipated the
probable commands of his superior, and  forwarded toward the
front every regiment not actively employed on the necessary and
vital duty of guarding important lines of communication. At the
same time he sought, by all the means at his command, to open
direct communication with McDowell, sending his aids in all directions over the field in the hope of obtaining explicit orders. But
all these efforts failed. General McDowell, shifting his headquarters from hour to hour, carried to and fio by the varying currents
of the day, was not to be found, and it was only at a late hour in
the afternoon of the day, as we shall presently see, that any of our
regimental commanders were able to reach and communicate with
25 The following shows the estimation in which General Runyon's services were held
by General McDowell:
" HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT N. E. VIRGINIA, 1
Arlington, July 28th, 1861.
"Brigadier-General Runyon, commanding Fourth Division ReservesSir: The General commanding directs me to express his appreciation of the industry,
zeal and efficiency manifested by you in commanding the Fourth Division Reserves,
during the late advance towards Manassas Junction.
"The promptness with which troops and supplies were thrown forward on demand,
and your efforts in collecting, controlling and providing for the stragglers after the retreat, were of great service to the army and the people.
I am, sir, very respectfully,
JAMES B. FRY, Adjutant General.
The above is a complete answer to the intimation in Greeley's " American Conflict,"
that Runyon's Division was not vigorously employed in arresting the fugitives from the
battle field. Mr. Greeley says:
" After the mischief was done Runyon's Division was ordered forward from Fairfaxof course to no purpose. But it should at least, have been promptly employed to block
completely with its bayonets the roads leading to Washington, sternly arresting the
flight of the panic-stricken fugitives and gathering them into something which should
bear once more the semblance of an army."
The letter from General McDowell, above given, shows that Runyon not only obeyed
orders, but did it with promptness, and that the duty of arresting the fugitives and
gathering them together, of which the historian speaks, was performed by General
Runyon in such a manner as to merit special commendation.




HOSTILITIES COMMENICED-BtLL RUN.               57
them. Then, the battle had been ended, and our forces were in
full retreat toward the Potomac defences. But even then the troops
of Runyon's Division performed the work assigned them without a
tremor of unsteadiness amid all the panic and tumult.
We have seen that the First and Second (three years') Regiments
were, on the morning of the 21st, encamped at Vienna, Lieutenant-Colonel McAllister in command of the former, and Colonel
McLean nominally, (but Lieutenant-Colonel Tucker, really,) commanding the latter. Three of the companies of the First were
absent on a reconnoisance, when orders came for an advance of
the two regiments to Centreville. This order was promptly obeyed,
the regiments hurrying forward with all possible haste, encountering now and then a civilian anxious to get beyond the reach of
possible harm,'but unable to gather any satisfactory information as
to the progress of the conflict. Presently, as they approached
Centreville, the guns, whose sullen roar had filled all the morning,
suddenly ceased firing, and then, for the first time, these Jersey
troops, marching steadily forward, knew that the battle was decided.
But how decided, was still an anxious, fearful question.  The answer was soon given by the confused masses of the retreating
army, drifting down by every available channel from the disastrous
field. It was a sad and bitter awakening to the advancing troops,
whose exultant hopes were thus in a moment dashed to the ground.
But they did not falter in their duty. The commandants of the
regiments determined at once to employ all the means at their disposal to arrest the stampede, and. throwing their columns across
the road, sought to stay the fugitives, appealing to their patriotism,
their honor, their sense of duty, to gather once more in line and
make another effort to save the day. But, for a time, so great was
the panic, no attention was paid to these urgent appeals. Then, it
being apparent that more vigorous persuasion was required, the
regiments charged with fixed bayonets upon the bewildered mass,
and soon effectually arrested the retreat, permitting only the
wounded to pass through the lines.  The First Regirent, alone,
turned, into its ranks some five hundred of the fugitives, marching straight through their retreating columns. In some cases the
8




58               NEW  JERSEY  AND TIE  REELtLtOT.
officers drew  their swords and pistols on  men and officers who
refused, upon appeals to their sense of honor, to turn back.2    As
the regiments advanced, cheer upon cheer greeted them  from  the
fugitives, who, as they saw help in sight, grew more calm and courageous.  Many fell into line, while others encouraged the advancing Jerseymen with applauding words. It was now nearly five
o'clock in the afternoon, and the stampede was stopped, the road
had been cleared and regulated; the army wagons halted, still in
line, on one side of the pike, and order had come out of chaos,
solely through the efforts of two New Jersey regiments. By this
time the First Regiment had reached the heights of Centreville,
and by sundown, the greater part of the retreating troops had found
shelter behind the ridge. It then became a question whether an
effort should, or should not, be made to hold the position and rally
the demoralized commands for a fresh encounter.  Colonel Montgomery sought out and had a conference with General McDowell,
25 General McAllister, in a letter written at the time, says: "The whole scene beggars all description; and yet, strange to say, our officers and men, raw as they were,
remained cool and collected, and marched through these retreating columns with a
firmness which astonished all who saw the regiments, and which has since been a
theme of universal praise."
In the same letter, General McAllister gives the following amusing account of the
manner in which William H. Russell, of the London Times, fled from the field. The
account is a curious commentary on Mr. Russell's picture as presented in the Times,
of the retreat of our troops, characterized by him as cowardly and disgraceful in the
1 ast degree. General McAllister says:
"A civilian, with a broad-rimmed hat, his face pale as death, came riding down the
road at a furious rate. I ordered him to halt. He, very much agitated and frightened,
said,'I am a civilian, and must pass on.'' No, you can't pass,' I replied; "my orders
are to stop everybody." He then said, "I am a bearer of despatches to Washington,
and it is imperative that I should go on." "You cannot pass until this panic is stopped;
every one who passes helps to increase the stampede," was my answer. "Here are my
papers-look at them," at the same time pulling them out of his pocket. I replied,
"No time to examine papers now; wait'till we are through with this job, and we will
consider your ease." He again implored me, in pitiful tones, to let him through,
whereupon I said, " There is my commander, go to him," pointing to Colonel Montgomery. He went to the Colonel, had some conversation with him, when Montgomery, disgusted with the man's cowardice, raising himself up in his saddle, cried at the
top of his voice, "Let that man go!" I did so, when the stranger put spurs to his
horse, and made the very stones of the pike fly behind him. That man was no other
than Russell, the correspondent of the London Times.
"In contrast with this gallant Englishman, 1 saw a lady on my left, sitting in a buggy,
amid the throng of soldiers, civilians, horses, mules, wagons, ambulances, right side up
and wrong side up, quite calm and unconcerned. The Colonel enquired,' Madam, are
you not afraid?' To which she replied,'No, Colonel, I feel perfectly safe.' "




HOSTILITIES COMMENCED. —BULL RUN.              59
strongly urging the propriety of making a stand.  He suggested
that breastworks should be thrown up, the freshest troops placed
in the most exposed positions, and any attempt at pursuit on the
part of the enemy resisted to the last extremity. There was really
no reason why this course should not have been pursued, the heights
forming an admirable position for defence, while several thousands
of fresh troops, who, being in the reserves, had not been engaged,
could in a few hours have been advanced to the front. General McDowell, while unwilling to commit himself to an attempt to hold the
heights permanently, instead of falling back to the line of the Potomac, finally acquiesced in so far to Colonel Montgcmery's suggestion as to permit an organized. effort to defend the position for the
present, in order to check the enemy, who were then supposed to
be pursuing; and the First Regiment was at once advanced to a
point beyond Centreville, where it took up position on the hill,
with its right resting on the road by which it would be necessary
for the enemy to advance. The Second Regiment, meanwhile,
being without orders, and supposing a general retreat had been decided upon, had retired. Two regiments, however, under command
of Colonel Blenker, still remained, and the Colonel of one of these
at a consultation held during the night, agreed to stand by the First,
whatever might occur, and fight to the last. Slowly the night
waned.  Silence, deep and profound, for a time reigned over the
valley, disturbed only by the groans of the wounded and dying in
the hospitals hard by. Pickets having been placed, the men, footsore and exhausted, laid down upon their arms. Presently there
was a rustle, as of men marching by stealth, and the officers of the
First were soon on the alert. An examination discovered the unwelcome fact that, notwithstanding the fair promises of an hour or
so before, the Blenker regiments had moved off in the darkness,
and the First were left alone in possession of the field. This discovery added, necessarily, to the anxiety of Colonel Montgomery
and his associate officers, and they anxiously discussed the question
as to what was next to be done?  Finally, it was determined to
take up another position, close to one of the hospitals which it was
desirable to protect to the last, but with the line still covering the




60              NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
road by which the enemy's advance was expected.  The line being
reformed, silence again fell upon the scene-Colonel Montgomery
meanwhile proceeding to General McDowell's headquarters, some
two miles distant, for the purpose of receiving further orders. McDowell, however, could not be found, and finally, Blenker's troops
having retreated, it was decided that there was no alternative but
to fall back, and directions accordingly were at once given.26
Slowly and not without regret, dangerous as their position unquestionably was, the men of the First marched away from  the
field where they had hoped to strike a telling blow in the nation's
behalf.  They  had, indeed, performed bravely and well the duty
assigned them; the first to reach the heights whose defence was
deemed important, they were the last, by several hours, to leave
the position; but they had hoped that they might do something
more-something that should brighten and redeem, in the eye of
the world, the shameful record of a shameful day. After marching several miles, the regiment came up with the rear of the retreating columns, and this afforded them a protection not before
enjoyed. At two o'clock on the afternoon of Monday, the 22d,
the command reached Fort Albany, near Alexandria, having been
on duty for thirty hours, without provisions and exposed during a
portion of the time to the blistering rays of a pitiless and burning
sun.  It was no wonder that many of the men dropped, exhausted,
in the shelter of fences and friendly trees, and that when at last a
refuge was reached, it was hailed with eager delight.22
The battle of Bull Run was lost.  To the enemy, however, the
26 i Before we moved off, I sent a messenger to inform Dr. Taylor, our Surgeon, of
our orders to retreat. The Doctor came to me and asked permission to remain with
the wounded, as all other surgeons had left with the retreating forces. I told him I
knew not the moment we would want his services ourselves, but was willing to grant
his request if the Colonel would agree to it. The Colonel did agree, and this is the
last we have seen of that noble-hearted man."-Letter of General MlcAllister, Jeuly 25,1861.
Taylor was subsequently taken prisoner.
27 Colonel McAllister, in a letter dated July 25, 1861, says of the performances of the
First Regiment:' Had it not been for our regiment, an immense number of wagons
would have been left alonrg the road, and would now be in the hands of the enemy
with all the stores they contained. We saved the Government, too, a large amount of




HOSTILITIES COMMENCED-BULL RUN.                            61
victory was by no means as complete as was supposed. It was, in
point of fact, altogether destitute of substantial fruit. So severely
did the confederates suffer, that their pursuit was not continued beyond Centreville, and had our troops made a stand at that point,
much of the disaster of the day might have been retrieved. Upon
tIis point, the testimony of the confederate officers is conclusive.'2
But this was unknown to our troops at the time, and to them the
reverse seemed overwhelming.  Upon  the loyal people at large,
other property. When we went up, parts of the road were literally covered with picks
and shovels-in a word, with articles of every description usually belonging to an
army. When we came back, nearly all was picked up, owing to our having stopped
the retreat, and so given the fugitives confidence and inspired them with some sense of
discipline."
In the same letter, General McAllister establishes clearly the claim  of the First
Regiment to the honor of having been the last to quit the point of danger: " A great
many claim the credit of protecting the retreat, and being the last to leave the field;
but it is all in the imagination.  We were the very last to leave Centreville.  We remained
two hours after Colonel Blenker left, and we would have been left to be cut to pieces
had we not accidentally discovered that his command was retreating."
28 General Joseph E. Johnston in a letter published in the winter of 1866-7, designed
to correct certain statements in reference to Bull Run, made in a Life of Stonewall
Jackson shows conclusively that the enemy did not dare to pursue even as far as Centreville, on account of our strong reserve, and the inference from what he says plainly
is that had McDowell made a stand, the fortunes of the day might have been retrieved.
General Johnston says:
"The pursuit of the enemy was not continued, because our cavalry (a very small
force) was driven back by the " solid resistance" of the United States infantry. Its rear
guard was an entire division, which had not been engaged, and was twelve or fifteen
times more numerous than our two little bodies of cavalry. The infantry was not required to continue the pursuit because it would have been harrassing it to no purpose."
Referring to a statement that "it was expected that the confederate commanders
would at least pursue the enemy to the gates of their entrenchments before Alexandria
and Washington," &c., General Johnston says: " Such a pursuit would have been fruitless. We could not have carried the intrenchments named by assault, and had none of
the means to besiege them. Our assault would have been repulsed, and the enemy,
then become the victorious party, would have resumed their march to Richmond. But
if we had captured the intrenchmcnts, a river a mile wide lay between them and Washington, commanded by the heavy guns of a Federal fleet. If we had taken Alexandria,
which stands on low and level ground, those guns would have driven us out in a few
hours, at the same time killing our friends, the inhabitants. We could not cross the
Potomac, and therefore it was impracticable to' conquer the hostile capital' or' emancipate oppressed Maryland.' "
Here we have a candid confession of the weakness of the enemy, and a recognition
of the fact that, with Runyon's reserve in his path, pursuit was fruitless. Indeed,
General Johnston says in so many words that " Mansfield's, Miles's and Runyon's divisions, a larger force than we could have brought against them, had not been beaten nor
engaged-and the reports of the commanders of the brigades engaged, show that they
entered the intrenchments organized, except those who fled individually from the field."
After these admissions it is hardly worth while for any one to say that the New Jersey
regiments failed to render most important service on that bloody day.




62             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
after the first effects of the stunning blow had disappeared, its influence was eminently salutary. It quickened everywhere the sentiment of patriotic devotion to the Union, showed the importance
of enlarged measures of defence, and, dissipating the last lingering
hope of peace, brought the nation to an appreciation of the great
work to which it was called. Thus, when the clouds of battle had
cleared away, and the field once more appeared in view, the people
arose as one man and embraced with a renewed consecration the
solemn responsibilities which one day's disaster laid upon them.
Meanwhile, the troops of the First (three months') Brigade,
having faithfully discharged all the duties assigned them, prepared,
their term of enlistment having expired, to return to their homes.
On the 24th of July, the Third and Fourth Regiments were ordered to report to General Mansfield for muster-out, and on the 25th
similar orders were issued to the First and Second. Proceeding
immediately to Washington, they delivered to the Government the
arms received in exchange for those furnished originally by the
State, and the usual formalities of discharge from the service having
been had, departed by rail for the State from which, at the first
call of the National Executive, they had eagerly gone to the nation's help. Their reception, upon their return, was most cordial
and enthusiastic, and hundreds of the men, eager to serve the
country still more efficiently, at once re-enlisted, and soon returned
to the field, where many of them fell, in after days, bravely fighting, with their faces to the foe.29
29 General Runyon, before quitting the field, received the thanks of the President,
tendered in the presence of the Cabinet, for his services in connexion with the New
Jersey Brigade. Subsequently, resolutions complimentary to his patriotism and efficiency as a soldier were passed by the Legislature of the State, and he was made Brevet
Major-General of Militia, by appointment of Governor Olden.




CHAPTER V.
THE   FIRST   BRIGADE.
We have seen that the people of New Jersey responded with
the most eager alacrity to the first call for troops to defend the
nation.  So numerous, indeed, were the volunteers for active service that, within a fortnight after the proclamation of April 15,
several additional regiments might have been furnished. The repeated refusals, however, to allow the State to furnish more troops,
and the urgent requests that the number already accepted should,
if possible, be reduced, rendered it imperatively necessary to decline the patriotic offers so freely ma(le, and as a result hundreds
of young men, eager to participate in the public defence, hurried
to other States and there enlisted in forming regiments.' In some
cases, whole companies which had been recruited under the first
call, finding that there was no probability of acceptance as part of
the quota of New  Jersey, were transferred  to New  York, and
there became identified with the Excelsior Brigade and other organizations which  subsequently  achieved  great celebrity.  The
total number who were thus obliged to seek service elsewhere is
stated by the Adjutant General to have reached nearly five thousand men.  The State authorities were naturally impatient under
" The State was thus deprived of the valuable services of many officers and men,
Prominent among the former was Colonel Bayard, a graduate of West Point, from New
Jersey, who offered his services to his native State to command a regiment of cavalry."
-Adjutant- General's Report.
The Adjutant-General, in his report for 1863, adds upon this point: "Large numbers
of our citizens were obliged to seek service elsewhere, because the Governor could not
accept them from this State: they may be found by companies in the Excelsior Brigade, in the Irish Brigade and other New York organizations, some in the Anderson
Troop, and in other organizations from Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.
These men preferred to enlist in New Jersey Regiments, but the General Government
positively refused to accept them from this State."




64               iTNEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
the restraints thus laid upon the patriotism of the people and their
own ability to preserve to the State the benefit of its own military
resources; and Governor Olden steadily persisted, notwithstanding
refusals and rebuffs, in imploring the Government to permit him
to place additional regiments in the field.2 At length these importunities were successful. Warned by the rapidly increasing proportions of the rebellion that a greater number of troops would
be required, and for a longer period of service, than were at first
called for, the President on the 3d of May, 1861, called for thirtynine regiments of infantry and one of cavalry, to serve for three
years or during the war, and on the 17th of the month a requisition was received for three regiments from New Jersey. This
requisition was granted at the special request of Governor Olden,
with the command that the number should in no case be exceeded.3
This number of over three thousand  men was easily furnished-a
sufficient number of companies to complete the regiments being
already organized, waiting to be mustered into service. The first
company mustered in under this call (May 21st) was from Elizabeth.
2 "The Governor from time to time importuned the War Department to receive
more troops from this State."-Report of Adjutant-General.
s The following reply to the requisition was immediately made:
"TRENTON, May 18, 1861.
"Hon. SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War:
"' DEAR SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the 16th
inst., enclosing plan of organization of the volunteers for three years or during the
war, and assigning three regiments to this State.
" The three regiments are now ready, and only await orders to the mustering officer,
Major Laidley, who is now here awaiting orders, to be mustered into the service. I
have not called out more than the three regiments, because I have not been authorized
to do so by you-but if the occasion required their services, this State would willingly
furnish twice as many regiments to serve during the war.
"I have consulted the mustering officcr, Major Laidley, and it is our intention to encamp these regiments here at Trenton as soon as they a;-o mustered in, and I shall then
proceed at once to furnish them with clothing, camp and garrison equipage, pursuant
to the contract I have recently entered into with the Quartermaster-General of the
United States.
"Permit me to hope that the mustering officer will receive immediate orders to
muster these regiments into service, that they may at once be daily and systematically
drilled. It is my intention to officer these regiments with skillful and competent officers; the colonels will probably all be retired officers of the regular army, and I believe
I shall be able to find experienced gentlemen to fill all the field appointments. It is
my desire, and shall be my care, to make these regiments fit to take and keep the field
against any enemy.
"Your obedient servant,            CHARLES S. OLDEN."




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                            65
It went immediately into camp at Camp Olden, near Trenton,
where the various other companies of the respective regiments
were also encamped upon formally  entering  the service.   The
material of these regiments was excellent, many companies being
almost entirely composed of men who had been identified with
some of the best militia organizations of the State.   This was
especially the case with the Second Regiment, which included in
its ranks a large proportion of the members of the City Battalion
of Newark-an  organization  which  had  a wide  reputation  for
superiority  of drill and  general soldierly  proficiency.   All the
regiments were well officered, and all furnished in after years instances of the rarest gallantry in the field. The regiments were
uniformed, clothed, equipped and furnished with camp and garrison equipage by the State, and were furnished with arms by the
General Government, from which source it was arranged that they
should also receive their baggage-wagons and ambulances upon
their arrival in Washington. The regiments left Trenton on the
28th of June, and reported to General Scott at Washington on
the following day.  One month later, another call for five additional regiments was received,4 and these also were promptly fur4 The following is the correspondence in reference to this call:
"WASHINGTON, D. C., July 24, 1861.
" The Governor of New Jersey, Trenton:
" SIR: Together with the regiments of three years' volunteers which the Government
already has in service from your State, enough to make eight in all, if tendered in a
reasonable time, will be accepted; the new regiments to be taken, as far as convenient
from the three months' men and officers just discharged; and to be organized, equip'
ped and sent forward as fast as single regiments are ready, on the same terms as were
those already in service from that State.
"Your obedient servant,
"A LINCOLN."
Upon this letter was endorsed:
" This order is entered in the War Department, and the Governor of New Jersey is
authorized to furnish the regiments with wagons and horses.
SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War.
The letter of the President was replied to as follows:
"STATE OF NEW JERSEY, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, 
" TRENTON, August 3, 1861. 
"To his Excellency, HON. ABRAHAM LINCOLN:
" SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the
24th ultimo.
"The State of New Jersey will respond with as much promptness as possible to the
9




66                NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
nished-the regiments being numbered respectively, Fourth, Fifth,
Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Regiments of New Jersey volunteers.
The Fourth Regiment reached Washington August 21st, being accompanied by a battery of six  pieces, furnished  by  the State and
commanded by Captain William  Hexamer, who had been waiting
for six months for an opportunity to enter the service.  This regiment was assigned to  the brigade of Brigadier-General Kearney,
and with the First, Second and Third Regiments, composed the
First Brigade of New Jersey Volunteers. The Fifth Regiment left
Trenton on the 29th of August, and reported for duty in Washington on the day following. The Sixth Regiment reached Washington on the 11th of September, and was followed, on the 20th, by
seven companies of the  Seventh  Regiment, the three remaining
companies of which reported on October 4th. The Eighth Regirequisition for five additional regiments for the war; and will send each regiment forward as soon as equipped.
"This State will at all times be ready to support to the extent of its power, the General Government in its noble effort to maintain our priceless institutions. We confidently trust, that by the blessing of a protecting Providence, the labors of your
administration, now attended with so much anxiety and care, will result in firmly
establishing the Union.
" With sentiments of great respect, I remain your obedient servant,
" CHARLES S. OLDEN."
The President's letter, as above, (received July 30th) was enclosed in the following,
from the Secretary of War:
"WAR DEPARTMENT, July 29, 1861.
" GOVERNOR OLDEN, Trenton, N. J:
" I have the honor to transmit herewith a letter from the President, with the endorsement of the Secretary of War.
"This department will accept from you, in addition to the three years' regiments
now in the field, five new regiments, if tendered within a reasonable time. I do not
doubt that your patriotic State will promptly furnish the men.   *   *   * 
"I trust you will lose no time in equipping and forwarding these regiments, as the
Government needs them at the earliest foment.
"I have the honor to be, dear sir, respectfully,
"SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War."
To this letter the following reply was made:
"TRENTON, August 3, 1861.
"HON. SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War:
" SIR: The State of New Jersey will furnish, equip and forward, as soon as possible,
five additional regiments of infantry, to serve in accordance with the request of the
President and your instructions. The regiments will be reported separately, as each is
equipped and ready to be moved.
"Your obedient servant,
"CHARLES S. OLDEN."




TIE  FIRST BRIADET.                             67
ment arrived on the second day of that month. To this regiment
was attached a battery of six pieces, with one hundred and fifty
nine non-commissioned officers and privates. These four regiments
formed the Second Brigade of New  Jersey Volunteers, and were
commanded by  Colonel Samuel H. Starr of the Fifth, he being
senior Colonel." 
* The regiments were organized and composed as follows:
FIRST REGIMENT.-Colonel, William R. Montgomery; Lieutenant-Colonel, Robert
McAllister; Major, David Hatfield; Adjutant, William Henry, Jr.; Quartermaster,
Samuel Read; Surgeon, Edward F. Taylor; Assistant Surgeon, Charles C. Gordon;
Chaplain, Robert B. Yard. Company A-Captain, John W. Brown; First Lieutenant,
Thomas T. Tillou; Second Lieutenant, Luther Martin.  Company B-Captain, Sylvester Van Sickell; First Lieutenant, William H. Tantum; Second Lieutenant, John
Parker. Company C-Captain, William Birney; First Lieutenant, Samuel H. Parisen;
Second Lieutenant, Ephraim G. Brewster. Company D-Captain, Valentine Mutchler;
First Lieutenant, Henry A. McLaughlin; Second Lieutenant, Charles Sitgreaves, Jr
Company E-Captain, Charles N. Pelouze; First Lieutenant, James B. Shields; Second
Lieutenant, Francis B. Holt. Company F-Captain, Enos Fouratt; First Lieutenant,
David Thompson; Second Lieutenant, John H. Voorhies.  Company G-Captain,
Alexander M. Way; First Lieutenant, Robert Boggs; Second Lieutenant, Jacob D
Wycoff. Company H-Captain, Isaac II. Baker; First Lieutenant, Edward C. Page;
Second Lieutenant, Joseph B. Eltringham.  Company I-Captain, John D. P. Mount;
First Lieutenant, Augustus O. Evans; Second Lieutenant, Edward G. Brown. Company K-Captain, Charles Consmiller; First Lieutenant, William R. Harrison; Second
Lieutenant, Anthony C. Demling.
SECOND REGIMENT.-Colonel, George W. McLean; Lieutenant-Colonel, Isaac M.
Tucker; Major, Samuel L. Buck; Adjutant, Joseph W. Plume; Quartermaster, William
E. Sturges; Surgeon, Gabriel Grant; Assistant Surgeon, Lewis W. Oakley; Chaplain,
Robert R. Proudtit. Company A-Captain, James Wilson; First Lieutenant, Bradbury
C. Chetwood; Second Lieutenant, William J. Cree. Company B-Captaii, Henry O.
Ryerson; First Lieutenant, John A. Wildrick; Second Lieutenant, Jacob H. Hoffman.
Company C-Captain, James N. Duffy; First Lieutenant, Garret Brady; Second Lieu
tenant, David Duffy. Company D-Captain, Albert Sigel; First Lieutenant, Edward
Schmidt; Second Lieutenant, Louis Helmer. Com)pany E-Captain, Charles Wiebecke;
First Lieutenant, Ferdinand Stoll; Second Lieutenant, Albert Frank.  Compann y FCaptain, Aaron Young; First Lieutenant, Henry Vreeland; Second Lieutenant, William E. Blewitt. Company G —Captain, James H. Close; First Lieutenant, Horatio
Leonard; Second Lieutenant, Sargent E. Leonard.  Company f —Captain, Edwin
Bishop; First Lieutenant, John F. W. Crane; Second Lieutenant, John W. Root.
Company I-Captain, George Griffith; First Lieutenant, John Allen; Second Lieutenant, Charles Danforth, Jr. Compyany I —Captain, Charles H. Tay; First Lieutenant,
Richard IIopwood; Second Lieutenant, Jacob Bogert.
THIRD REGIMENT.-Colonel, George W. Taylor; Lieutenant-Colonel, Henry W.
Brown; Major, Mark W. Collett; Adjutant, Robert T. Dunham; Quartermaster, Francis Sayre; Surgeon, Lorenzo Lewis Cox; Assistant-Surgeon, Edward L. Welling;
Chaplain, George R. Darrow. Company A-Captain, David Vickers, Jr.; First Lieutenant, John Roberts; Second Lieutenant, Charles Wilson. Company?B-Captain,
Henry C. Gibson; First Lieutenant, Franklin L. Knight; Second Lieutenant, William
N. Evans. Company C-Captain, Joseph F. Rowand; First Lieutenant, Daniel P.
Buckley; Second Lieutanant, E. Burd Grubb. Company D-Captain, James G. Fitts;
First Lieutenant, John J. Jones; Second Lieutenant, Hubert S. Linn. Company E



68               NEW  JERSEY  AND TRE RB1ELLtON.
It has already been seen, in another place, that three of the
regiments of the First Brigade entered, almost immediately on their
arrival in Virginia, upon the active duties of the soldier, forming
part of General Runyon's Division of Reserves in the battle of
Bull Run, and aiding materially in arresting the retreat of our
forces on that fateful day.  Immediately subsequent to that battle,
the First and Second Regiments went into camp near Alexandria,
and here also the Third, which was stationed at Fairfax during the
engagement, took position; the Fourth, upon its arrival, being ordered to the same vicinity. On the 25th of July, Major Philip
Kearney, who had greatly distinguished himself in the Mexican
war, was appointed  a Brigadier-General of volunteers,' and early
in August he was assigned to the command of the New  Jersey
troops, who were attached to Franklin's Division, the brigade
headquarters being established at St. John's Seminary, some three
Captain, Edward L. Campbell; First Lieutenant, William P. Robeson, Jr.; Second
Lieutanant, George P. Saunders. Company F-Captain, James W. H. Stickney; First
Lieutenant, Samuel T. Dubois; Second Lieutenant, George Woodruff. CompanJ GCaptain, Peter F. Rogers; First Lieutenant, Richard D. Cook; Second Lieutenant,
Arthur S. Hardcastle. Company H —Captain, William E. Bryan; First Lieutenant, William Spence; Second Lieutenant, John Frantz. Company I-Captain, Leonard H.
Regur; First Lieutenant, Archy S. Taylor; Second Lieutenant, Lewis C. Spencer.
Company K-Captain, John II. Whelan; First Lieutenant, John B. Lutz; Second Lieutenant, David Fairly.
FOURTH REGIMENT.-Colonel, James H. Simpson; Lieutenant-Colonel, J. L. Kirby
Smith; Major, William B. Hatch; Adjutant, Josiah S. Studdiford; Surgeon, Alexander
N. Dougherty; Assistant-Surgeon, Joseph D. Osborne; Quartermaster, Samuel C. Harbert; Chaplain, Rev. Norman W. Camp, D. D. Company A-Captain, Charles Meves;
First Lieutenant, Charles Meyer; Second Lieutenant, Charles Linsenbarth. Company
— Captain, William Seddon; First Lieutenant, Robert S. Johnston; Second Lieutenant, John B. Warner. Company C-Captain, Heathcote J. Disbrow; First Lieutenant,
Calvin T. Speer; Second Lieutenant, Robert W. Roberts. Company D-Captain, Samuel Mulford; First Lieutenant, Barzillai Ridgway; Second Lieutenant, John M. Pearson. Company E-Captain, Charles Iall; First Lieutenant, William H. Eldridge;
Second Lieutenant, Samuel H. Ellis. Comnpany F-Captain, Napoleon B. Aaronson;
First Lieutenant, Thomas M. Fetter; Second Lieutenant, Frederick G. Aaronson.
Company G-Captain, Henry M. Jewett; First Lieutenant, Samuel M. Gaul; Second
Lieutenant, Elias Wright. Company H-Captain, John Reynolds; First Lieutenant,
Thomas P. Grapewine; Second Lieutenant, James T. Lowe. Company I-Captain,
William Nippins; First Lieutenant, John L. Ridgway; Second Lieutenant, Howard
King. Company K-Captain, J. W. Lumley; First Lieutenant, William Stillings;
Second Lieutenant, Charles W. Johnson.
5 This was done upon the urgent solicitation of Cortlandt Parker and H. N. Congar,
Esqs., of Newark, who personally interceded with the President in behalf of his appointment.




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                        69
miles from  Alexandria.  General Kearney, whose extraordinary
capacity for organizing and moulding troops, was even then but
partially understood, at once addressed himself to the task of advancing his command to the highest possible state of efficiency,
educating the officers in the most improved rules of military practice, and laboring incessantly to introduce and popularize among
the men correct views, and a just appreciation, of discipline.  Himself a thorough soldier, submitting cheerfully to all the exactions
of military and camp life, he required his command to come fully
up, in every particular whatever, to the requirements of the service, tolerating no evasions, making no exceptions, accepting of no
excuses.  At the same time, by manifesting the deepest and most
watchful interest in everything which concerned the welfare and
comfort of his troops, freely drawing upon his own purse to promote these ends, he inspired them with confidence and self-respect;
elevated in their perceptions the standards of duty, and before
the close of the year had so attached officers and men alike to his
person that, without exception, they were prepared to follow him
into any danger, knowing that, in the midst of battle as on the
peaceful parade, his eye would be upon them, eager at once to see
how  they performed their work and to guard them against unnecessary exposure and peril.6
The experience of the brigade during the fall and winter months
was marked by but few incidents of importance, the time being
mainly occupied in drill and the ordinary camp duties. There
were now and then occasions, however, when the tedium was relieved by movements which served to test the mettle of the troops
and prepare them  for the dangers and hardships of future campaigns.  The Third Regiment was among the first to come into direct collision with the pickets of the enemy and to suffer loss in
its ranks from rebel bullets.  On the 29th of August, this regiment,
while reconnoitering near Cloud's Mills, fell into an ambuscade, and
6 A letter from an officer, published in the Newark Advertiser of September 23, 1861,
says: "I can compare his popularity with the men to nothing else but that of Napoleon
I. with the French army; they almost worship him and would follow wherevernay, they would go wherever he points as the path of duty. * * Their confidence in
his military skill is unparalleled in this country since the days of Washington."




70            NEW JERSEY AND TMIE REBELLION.
lost two men killed and four wounded. On the same day a company of the Second Regiment had a skirmish with a body of the
enemy, in which one man was wounded, the rebel loss being twelve
in killed and injured. On the 29th of September, General Kearney made the first important demonstration which had been had
since Bull Run, in the nature of a reconnoisance in force, the troops
consisting of the First Brigade, Hexamer's Battery, and a company
of Colonel Young's Kentucky Cavalry. The object of the movement being to ascertain the character of the enemy's works on Mason's hill, some distance from our lines, where he was supposed to
be strongly fortifying, the expedition was conducted with the greatest caution, and, the troops behaving with the greatest steadiness,
though within shelling distance of the enemy, it was eminently
successful, General Kearney obtaining precisely the information he
wanted, and information, too, which proved of the greatest value
as a guide in future operations. On the 15th of October, a detachment of the First Regiment fell in with the enemy, mainly cavalry,
and after a brisk skirmish, in which they emptied a number of
saddles, retired with the loss of three or four killed. These skirmishes, were only important in so far as they trained the men to'vigilance and celerity of movement, though they undoubtedly
gave a spice to the otherwise dull and monotonous life of the camps.
Meanwhile the torpor which had characterized the War Department, and operated as a check upon all movements in the field, had
been dissipated by the selection of Edwin M. Stanton, a man of
rough but inexhaustible energy, as Secretary, in place of Simon
Cameron, and a vast army having been accumulated on the South
of the Potomac, on the 27th of January, 1862, an order was issued
by the President, directing General McClellan to "impel all the
disposable force of the army," on or before February 22d, for the
seizure and occupation of a point upon the railroad northwestward
of Manassas Junction. The Commander-in-chief, however, by inducing the President to consent to an advance upon Richmond by
way of the Peninsula, obtained a practical suspension of this order,
and no advance, consequently, was made at the time designated by
the Executive.  All this time, however, General Kearney, restive




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                      71
under constrained inaction was watching with sleepless vigilance
for opportunity to show the folly of inactivity, and at length he
realized his desire.  On the 7th of March, his brigade was ordered
to Burke's Station, on the Orange and Alexandria railroad, for the
purpose of guarding a party of laborers, and reaching there on the
following day, made an extended reconnoisance of the country for
several miles around. Subsequently, he was notified by some negroes that the enemy was preparing to leave Manassas.7  He was
not slow to act upon this hint. Apprising General Franklin of the
information received, but without awaiting orders, he at once pushed on with his troops, throwing out skirmishers over a wide extent
of country, and driving steadily before him the scattered pickets of
the enemy.  On the 9th, the Second and Third Regiments, with a
squadron of the Lincoln Cavalry, occupied Sangster's Station, a
point on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad about five miles from
Bull Run and nine from Manassas Junction,-the Fourth Regiment
acting as support to the advance.  Here they surprised a detachment of rebel cavalry, killing three and capturing a Lieutenant and
eleven men, and losing one officer of the cavalry, killed at the first
fire.  The First Regiment had meanwhile advanced to Fairfax
Court House, whence, on the morning of the 10th, a detachment
under Major Hatfield and Captain Vansickle was sent forward to
Centreville, which place was entered about noon-the remainder of
the regiment coming up shortly after under Lieutenant-Colonel McAllister.8  On the same day, the remainder of the brigade, pushing
cautiously forward, reached, and at ten o'clock in the morning,
entered the abandoned works at Manassas Junction-eight companies of the Third Regiment being the first to take possession
and hoist the regimental flag.  The withdrawal of the enemy
at this point had evidently been precipitate, and an immense
amount of hospital and commissary stores was found, together
with eighty baggage-wagons, several locomotives, four or five cars,
7 Rebel reports show that their evacuation of their winter camps was completed on
this very day, preparations therefor (according to Pollard's History) having been in
progress for two or three weeks.
8 This regiment, which was the last to leave Centreville at the first Bull Run, had
thus the honor of being the first to occupy the place in the second advance.




72               NEW  JERSEY  AND  THE REBELLION.
two hundred  tents, and  other property  of value.9   Among the
trophies also were seven flags, one of white silk, with the motto,
"Carolinians in the field-Traitors Beware," and another, bordered
with heavy silver fringe, with the inscription, "State Rights: Sic
semper tyrann is. "
Thus at all points the advance of the Brigade had been success
ful.1~ It had demonstrated the feasibility of a forward movement
had discovered to the country the indefensibility of the policy of'' masterly inactivity," and had, so to speak, lifted the army out of
the slough of despond into which it was rapidly sinking.  Pointing
the way to success, its example stimulated in other commands a
spirit of emulation and activity, and thus, while hanging its own
standards with trophies, prepared the way for the grand campaign
so close at hand.
Early in April, the brigade was attached to the First Division of
the First Army Corps, and on the 7th of that month proceeded to
Bristoe Station, on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, whence
it proceeded to Catlet's Station, two miles from  Warrenton Junction-the object of the movement being to engage the attention of
the enemy while McClellan transferred the main body of his army
by transports to the Peninsula,  The command remained at Catlet's until the 11th, when it returned to Alexandria, where, on
the 17th, it embarked on steamers  in  waiting, and  sailed  for
the rendezvous at the mouth  of the York River, disembarking
on the north-east side of Pequosin Bay, or, as otherwise known,
9 " The smoke was still rising from the black ruins of the numerous quarters and
store-houses recently fired. Some of the quarters, which had not been fired, were filled with articles of value which time had not permitted their owners to carry away.
There were provisions enough to last the regiment for weeks, and of good quality.
The men were not slow to appropriate what lay before them. Among other things
found were barrels of eggs, already cooked by the fire."-Letter to Philadelphia Inquirer.
"General Kearney was with the advance all day, and gave the men free access to
everything left behind. As he rode into the works, after their occupation, and drew up
in front of our line, lifting his cap under the stars and stripes, three rounds of applause
welcomed the hero of Chepultepec."-lbid.
10 " General McClellan, advancing in consequence of information received from General
Kearney, accompanied by his staff and two thousand horse, was met by General Kearney as he was returning to Centreville. The advancing party had skirmishers in front,
and were altogether unprepared, but, of course, greatly delighted, to find that they
had encountered, not secessionists, but their own troops."-Newark Daily Advertiser,.March 17, 1862.




T11t FIRST BRIGADE.                        78
York Point.  At this time General Kearney, having been assigned
to the command of a Division (Third) in the Third Corps, Colonel
Taylor, of the Third Regiment, took charge of the brigade. On
the 5th, Yorktown, having been evacuated the previous day,
Franklin's Division was transferred to Yorktown, whence it proceeded to West Point on the York River. Here the troops were
disembarked, half a mile southward of the Point, and pickets immediately thrown out into the woods in front. During the night,
skirmishing was briskly carried on between the opposing pickets,
and at daylight the whole division was put under arms. Soon
after the enemy advanced, and a sharp engagement ensued, but
the New Jersey Brigade being held in reserve, sustained no loss."
During the evening, the brigade relieved the troops in advance,
and lay on their arms in line of battle until daylight, when it was
ordered forward, the First, Second and Third Regiments acting as
skirmishers, and the Fourth as a reserve.  Advancing to a hill
from which the enemy had the day previous shelled our transports,
it was occupied and held until noon, when, the enemy having retreated, the troops returned to their old position, whence the First
and Second Regiments were advanced on the 9th to join Stoneman's forces. During the fighting at the Point, the brigade was
confronted by some of the best troops in the rebel army, which
embraced two divisions, but the men fully justified the expectations of their commander, General Franklin cordially commending
them  for their gallantry.   Hexamer's Battery  (attached to the
brigade) did splendid execution. at one time repulsing with heavy
loss the Fifth Alabama, after it had pushed our line a considerable
distance from its advanced position.
On the 15th, Franklin's entire division effected a junction with
McClellan's army, then near the White House, whence it advanced
1 Later in the evening, the First Regiment, led by Colonel McAllister, while making
a charge in the woods, had four men slightly wounded. In this charge, the First
took and held a position which two New York regiments had been unable to
maintain. A correspondent of the New York Tines said of this charge: "The line
was as firm as a division in its column at a review. Not a man flinched. LieutenantColonel McAllister, when the enemy broke, bravely pursued them some distance, when
he received orders to return and hold the fence which ran across the forest. This firm
and determined movement decided the result. The rebels made good their retreat."
10




74            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLIOTN.
to the Chickahominy, where it remained for a fortnight. Meanwhile, the fighting about Richmond had commenced.  On the
Chickahominy the first collision had occurred on the 24th. This
was followed by a battle near Hanover Court House, in which the
Fifth Corps repulsed the enemy with heavy loss. On the 31st,
Casey's Division of Keyes' Corps had been beaten back upon Fair
Oaks by an overwhelming force of the enemy, much of the lost
ground, however, being  subsequently recovered by Sedgwick,
who was opportunely ordered to the front. The fighting continued
more or less severely during the following day, the advantage at
the close of the day resting with us, though our loss had been very
heavy.  On the 6th of June, Franklin's Division was ordered forward to Mechanicsville, on the extreme right of our lines, and here
it remained for several days, McClellan holding his position and
awaiting reinforcements. During part of this time, the brigade
was engaged in picket duty at the Meadow Bridge on the line of
the Virginia Central Railroad, being frequently disturbed by
alarms, but not at any time actively engaged. On the 18th, the
corps took position at Fair Oaks, near the battle field of May
31st and June 1st. On the night of May 21st, the First Regiment,
under McAllister, was sent out to guard a working party. On the
26th, Stonewall Jackson having engaged our forces at Mechanicsville, was repulsed, though he did not abandon the field. On the
following morning the battle was savagely renewed, the rebels
pursuing our troops to Gaines' Mill, whither they had been ordered
by McClellan to withdraw, and charging again and again upon our
lines-compelling them at last to give way.
On the afternoon of that day (the 27th) the New Jersey Brigade
left its entrenched camp on the right bank of the Chickahominy,
and, crossing that stream, moved down to Woodbury's Bridge,
where it found both Fitz John Porter and McCall severely pressed.
The brigade was at once formed in two lines, the Third and Fourth
Regiments in front, and the First and Second in the second line,
and in this order advanced to the brow of a hill in front, where the
Third Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Brown, was ordered
into the woods to relieve Newton's Brigade, which was sorely




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                     75
pressed by the enemy. At this point the woods, some four hundred yards in front of our line of battle, swarmed with rebels, who
fought with the greatest desperation and ferocity, handling their
artillery, especially, in the most effective manner, and doing fearful
execution in our ranks. The gallant Third, however, bravely stood
its ground, opening a galling fire on the enemy, and remaining in
the woods until the close of the action. About half an hour after
reaching the field, the First Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel
McAllister, was also ordered into the woods, and took position
under the eye of General Porter.  The volleys of musketry from
the enemy were at this time terribly rapid and destructive, but
officers and men alike bravely held their ground. At length General Taylor, dashing to the front, ordered a charge, and the line
swept forward with a cheer, driving the rebels clear out of the
woods into an open field. Here, however, the reserves of the enemy were encountered, and our men were compelled to fall back
and take a new position. Meanwhile, four companies of the second,
under Colonel Simpson, had become engaged-the second, at first
acting as a support to Hexamer's battery, but being subsequently
sent by General Porter into a belt of woods on the right to support
a Michigan Regiment. Unfortunately, however, the latter fell back
under some misapprehension, and the four companies of the second
were left exposed to the full force of the rebel onset. About the
same time, the Fourth Regiment was sent into the woods by order
of an aid of General McClellan, and thus all the men of the brigade
were engaged at the most dangerous and difficult parts of the field.
The fighting was from first to last of the most desperate character.
The belt.of timber through which the storm of battle rolled was
something like a mile in length, but not more than two hundred
yards wide, having behind it, at the point where our troops were
engaged, a large open field, where the enemy had posted their reserves, which they threw into action from time to time. On either
side of the open field, the enemy's artillery was placed, having a
perfect range of our forces.  But with all the odds of position and
numbers against them, the "Jersey Blues " fought steadily on until
nightfall, their ranks terribly thinned, indeed, but the survivors




76               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
still bravely keeping heart. Three times the enemy were driven
from the woods, but as often returned, reinforced, to renew the
contest. One by one the officers of the stubbornly-fighting regiments were shot down.  Colonel Tucker fell at the head of his
regiment, Major  Ryerson, Captain  Danforth  and  others  were
wounded; and at last, wearied, bleeding, their ammunition  exhausted, the brigade slowly retired, and crossing the bridge at
eleven o'clock, reached its old camp about midnight, having  sustained a total loss of over one thousand men in killed and wounded, of whom  some five hundred, belonging to the Fourth Regiment,
were captured in a body, having refused to retreat from  the woods
when it might have done so, and continued to fight until completely surrounded. 2
12 A letter from Colonel Simpson, dated in prison at Richmond, July 8th, says: "The
regiment was posted in the wood to sustain the centre in the battle near Gaines' Mill,
and nobly did it hold its ground until about an hour after the right and left wings of the
army had fallen back. Mine and the Eleventh Connecticut reserve were the last to
leave the front, and only did so when we found that the rest of the army had given
way, and we were literally surrounded by the infantry and batteries of the Confederate
forces.
"Being in the woods, and trusting to our superior officers to inform us when to retreat, and not being able to see on account of the woods what was going on towards
our right and left, we continued fighting an hour probably after every other regiment had
left the ground. The consequence was inevitable. We were surrounded by ten times
our number, and though we could have fought until every man of us was slain, yet
humanity, and, as I think, wisdom dictated that we should at last yield. Our casualties
were one hundred and forty-nine killed and wounded, besides seventy-five missing, of
whom a number probably were killed and wounded."
In a subsequent letter, dated July 22d, addressed to his wife, Colonel Simpson wrote:
"My regiment was engaged in the action of Friday June 27th, near Gaines' Mill, and only
after incessant firing of three hours, and when I found that the right and left flanks of
our army had given way, and my regiment was entirely surrounded, did we give up. It
is a mortification to find ourselves prisoners of war, but as the Eleventh Pennsylvania
Reserve, Colonel Gallagher, and my own regiment were the last to quit the field, having
held the centre, probably as much as an hour after the flanks had retreated, and no aid
or general came into the woods to tell us to retreat, (which, from our not being able to
see what was going on towards the flanks, was necessary,) and as we only gave up when
we had several regiments of the opposing force in our front, right and left flank and
rear, and it would only have been certain destruction to us all to have continued the
struggle, with nothing to gain, we cannot be blamed for the unfortunate position in
which we now find ourselves. I am happy to say, however, that one captain has treated
me courteously, and the rigor in which we are held as prisoners has been very much
mitigated by the kindly offices of old army friends now in the Confederate service, who
have called upon me.
" The casualties of the regiment, so far as I have been able to ascertain, were as follows:
Captain Charles Mervis, Co. A, killed; Second Lieutenant J. Shaw, Co. B, killed;
Lieutenant Charles Meyer, Co. A, slightly wounded; Second Lieutenant R. W. Roberts,




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                              77
The day was lost, but not through any fault of the New Jersey
Brigade. It was lost because the battle was shamefully mismanaged from  first to last; because at the  most critical moments no
superior officer could be found to furnish supports or to bring order
out of chaos. Three several times General Taylor sent his aids
through a fearful fire to procure from some commander necessary
orders and support; but none could be found, and so, abandoned,
he was compelled to fight a force outnumbering him  six to one, as
long as the most obstinate courage could hold out. It was no
wonder, under these circumstances, that the heroic brigade, the
flower of the division, representing three thousand  New  Jersey
households, where women  wrestled in  prayer through  all those
bitter days of blundering and disaster, was almost obliterated; that
out of the two thousand eight hundred stout-hearted men who
marched a-field in the early afternoon, but nine hundred and sixtyfive, wearied, scarred, and dark with the grime of battle, answered
to their names in the solemn midnight when the morning's camp
was reached.'
Co. C, slightly wounded; First Lieutenant W. F. Eldridge, Co. E, slightly wounded;
First Lieutenant J. L. Ridgeway, wounded; Second Lieutenant C. H. Hatch, wounded;
Captain Samuel Mulford, slightly wounded; enlisted men killed, fifty-three; enlisted
men wounded, one hundred and twenty-one. This number will probably run up to
two hundred, and possibly more when we shall have learned the fate of the missing
and unaccounted for. The number, including the officers, I went into action with, was
six hundred and twenty-seven; so far as positively known, the killed and wounded
amounted to twenty-nine per cent. of the whole force engaged. The only officers not
in the fight were Captain Hall, sick at Camp Lincoln; Lieutenant King, sick in New
Jersey, and Lieutenant Camp, on signal duty."
13 The correspondent of the Newark Daily Advertiser, who was present at this fight,
says of the absence of good management in the affair:
"The New Jersey troops bore the brunt of the whole fight from the time they arrived till our forces were withdrawn from the field. They had no support at all-no
fresh troops were in reserve for them to fall back upon; and none were sent for until
it was nearly dark, when the ground had been given up, and the whole right wing of
the army was in full retreat-almost in a panic. It was folly-downright madness-to
throw the troops into those woods at all until they had been effectually shelled by our
artillery. We had artillery enough there to have torn the woods to pieces, and thus
have forced the rebels to meet us in an open field, but it was not done. In fact, a large
portion of our artillery was kept inactive all the afternoon, and much that was usedfrom the peculiar position of the combatants-killed almost as many of our own men
as of the enemy. We also had a large force of cavalry which were held as idle spectators of the battle, when at several critical periods they might have been used most
advantageously. Had a squadron of cavalry been on hand to charge upon the rebels




78               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
The losses of the day fell heavily upon the shattered command,
for not a few of those who went down in the storm had been men
of mark, and held high social as well as military rank. In the
First Regiment, Major David  Hatfield  was wounded in the early
part of the engagement, and subsequently  died of his injuries;
Captain E. G. Brewster was killed, while Captains Way, Mount
and  others were wounded-the total loss in the regiment being
twenty-one killed, seventy-eight wounded, and sixty missing.  In
the Second Regiment, out of four companies, fifteen were killed,
forty-eight wounded and forty-one missing, while in the Third, the
loss was thirty-four killed, one hundred and thirty-six wounded,
and forty-five missing. The Fourth, besides its loss in prisoners,
lost thirty-eight killed and one hundred and eleven wounded. The
six companies of the Second Regiment not engaged in the battle,
were on picket, holding a redoubt in an advanced position, where
they  were exposed  to a constant fire of the enemy's shells, but
suffered, fortunately only a single casualty.4   The instances of galwhen General Taylor drove them out of the woods, he could have easily held the position he had gained, and it would have been a material advantage to our side."
14 The following is General Taylor's official report of this battle:
"HEADQUARTERS, FIRST BRIGADE, N. J. VOLUNTEERS,
July 4th, 1862,
CAMP ON JAMES RIVER.
"H. C. RODGERS, Captain and Acting Assistant Adjutant- General:
" My command, by order, left our entrenched camp on the right bank of the Chickahominy, on Friday afternoon, the 27th of June, and crossed the said stream by the
Woodbury bridge.
" The battle began the day previous, had been renewed near Gaines' Farm, where we
arrived about four o'clock, p. m. I immediately formed my brigade in two lines, the
Third and Fourth Regiments in front, and the First and Second Regiments in the
second line.
"My line was scarcely formed when the Third Regiment, under the command of
Lieutenant-Colonel Brown, was ordered to advance forward into the woods, where a
fierce combat was raging.
"Colonel Brown immediately formed his regiment in line of battle, led it into the
woods, and began a rapid fire upon the enemy. As this was the first of my regiments
engaged, I will complete my report of it by saying that they continued the fight in the
woods until the close of the action. They were all this time under a galling fire, often
a cross fire, but maintained their ground until near sunset, when the whole line fell
back. They had at this time expended (a large majority of the men) their last cartridge, sixty rounds to the man. It is but justice to say that this regiment bore itself
most heroically throughout the entire action. Their conduct was all that could be desired. With their comrades falling around, they stood up like a wall of iron, losing
over one-third of their number, and gave not an inch of ground until their ammunition




TIE FIRST BRIGADE.                               79
lantry and daring among the troops actually engaged during the
day were numerous and characteristic. Colonel Tucker, who fell
was expended, and the retrograde movement became general; they were under this
fire one hour and a half.
"The First Regiment entered the woods about half an hour after the Third, and remained until the close of the action. Colonel Torbert being unwell, the regiment was
led by Lieutenant-Colonel McAllister, and well sustained by his presence and courage.
I shall, however, say that Colonel Torbert, though suffering from low fever, followed
us to the field and was present.
"I take great pleasure in saying, for both these regiments fought under my own eye,
that the First Regiment showed the same indomitable courage as the Third Regiment,
exposing themselves to the leaden hail of an often unseen foe, advancing with the
Third Regiment, and stood steadily under a most galling fire until the close of the
action. Their loss was, enlisted men killed twenty, wounded eighty, missing fiftyseven. The loss of commissioned officers was one killed, four wounded, and one missing-making a total of one hundred and sixty-three.
" I have now to speak of the Second and Fourth Regiments, the first of which, under
Colonel Tucker, numbered only four (4) companies, the other six (6) being on duty in
the field works at Camp Lincoln, and left behind under Lieutenant-Colonel Buck.
While absent to the front, these four companies, by order of General Porter, and without my knowledge, were sent into the woods, suffering a most galling fire.  Their loss
was, enlisted men killed twelve, wounded forty-five, missing forty; making a total of
ninety-seven enlisted men. I also regret to record the death of Colonel I. M. Tucker
and probably Major Ryerson, both of whom were left upon the field; also Captain
Danforth, mortally wounded, and Lieutenants Blewitt, Root and Bogert, severely
wounded, and Lieutenant Callan missing. They however sustained themselves most
gallantly, and proved their courage against superior numbers.  The fate of the Fourth
Regiment, Colonel Simpson, one of my most efficient regiments, as regards officers
and men, was most painful.
"At the moment when victory seemed wavering in the balance, an aid of General
McClellan took them from my command and ordered them into the woods. All the
account I can give of them is that but one officer (wounded) and eighty-two men have
rejoined my command; all the rest, if living, are believed to be prisoners of war.
"I learn from those who have come in, that up to the time that the regiment was
surrounded, they had received from and returned the enemy a most galling fire. I
annex a report of the casualties of the day, showing the total loss of my brigade.
"In conclusion, I would say that so far as I am at present informed, my officers
commissioned and non-commissioned, nobly performed their duties. And it might
therefore be invidious to particularize. Still, in justice to the gallant dead who have
devoted their lives to their country, I must record the names of Captain Brewster, of
the First, and Captain Buckley, of the Third, also Second Lieutenant Howell, of the
Third, all officers of distinguished merit.
"These officers fought under my eye. As regards the conduct of the Second and
Fourth Regiment officers, I am told that it was all that could be desired. But these
regiments having been taken from me, I did not see them during the action.
"It is eminently due to my staff officers to say that they carried out my orders, intelligibly and promptly, and did not hesitate, and were often exposed to the hottest
fire of the day.
"I will forward a more detailed report in a few days.
"I have the honor to be, very respectfully, &c.,
"GEORGE W. TAYLOR, Brigadier- General.
The following is the report of Lieutenant-Colonel McAllister, of the First Regiment,
in reference to the part which that regiment took in this engagement:
"  *  * * *  The regiment, ordered with the division to the support of General




$0                NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
while rallying his men, was cool and brave to the last. To one
who spoke to him as his command entered the woods, he smilingly
Porter's Corps, was hurried to the scene of action, and on forming line of battle was
ordered to support a battery which was engaging the enemy. Soon after General
Porter ordered me to advance in the woods to support the Third New Jersey; reaching
the position designated, I directed the men to lie down, but the three companies from
the left being uncovered by any troops in front, I immediately ordered them forward
to engage the enemy, which they did most gallantly-Captains Mutchler, Mount and
Brewster in command. In a short time the whole regiment was engaged, and a most
terrific fire was kept up on both sides for about an hour and a half while the regiment
was engaged. The regiments on my right and left having fallen back, and the enemy
making a maneuver to flank me on both sides, I ordered a retreat. During the early
part of the action, Major Hatfield, while fighting bravely, was wounded in the head
and had to leave the field. Soon after I lost the services of Lieutenants Holt, Company
C, and Mutchler, Company D, who were wounded severely in the arm and leg. While
retiring from the woods the regiment was under a cross fire from the enemy, and then
it was that we lost largely both officers and men. Captain Brewster fell dead on the
field while fighting heroically. Too much cannot be said in praise of Captains Pelouze,
Fourat, Way, Baker and Brown, Adjutant Henry and all of the lieutenants engaged.
To mention non-commissioned officers who distinguished themselves, would be to
name nearly all, for neither officers nor men could have behaved better under fire."
At the time of this engagement Colonel Torbert was confined to his bed with remittent fever, but being informed that his regiment was going into action, he started for
the field at once. Arriving there, he succeeded after much difficulty in finding the
regiment, and seeing part of the division falling back, went to work with other officers
to rally and collect the men, including some of the First. In this task Sergeantmajor Provost rendered much assistance. In transmitting the above report to headquarters, Colonel Torbert says: "From all the information I can gather, LieutenantColonel McAllister displayed great bravery and coolness during the action. Nor can I
refrain from speaking of the valuable services of Chaplain Yard in looking after and
caring for the wounded and helping to collect the regiment. The Surgeon (Gordon)
and his assistants also did their duty nobly."
The following is the report of Lieutenant-Colonel Buck, of the Second regiment.
"On the 27th ult. this regiment engaged the enemy at two points. Companies A, B,
C, E, F and G, under my command, were detailed on the 26th for picket duty, and on
the 27th were attacked and held their ground against a much superior force, only one
man being slightly wounded, which was truly providential, considering the perfect
storm of shot and shell which rained over us.
On the 27th, Colonel Tucker, with Companies D, H, I and K, were ordered with the
brigade to cross the Chickahominy. They were soon ordered to the front to relieve a
full regiment; nothing daunted at the smallness of their numbers, they formed with
perfect order, and fought the unequal contest with a cool determination worthy of all
praise. Soon the superior numbers of the enemy enabled him to turn their flanks;
under this cross fire the remaining few, headed by Colonel Tucker, assisted by Major
Ryerson, Captains Bishop and Tay, and Lieutenant Buckley, rallied around the colors,
when a shower of balls poured upon the small force, wounding our brave Colonel in the
breast. Lieutenant Root, of Company K, attempted to carry him off the field, when
another volley wounded the Lieutenant in three places and the Colonel in two. Ho
soon breathed his last, and it became necessary to abandon his remains. Sergeant
Charles Pierson, of Company H, remained with the Colonel until the last, thoughtfully
removing his papers. This fire also wounded the Major in the bowels, and he was left
on the field with three men of Company I, who gallantly refused to leave him.
Captain Danforth, of Company I, received his death wound early in the engagement




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                              81
said, " It is rather hot in  there, and  some of us will never come
out, but the Jersey boys will do their duty."   When, being wounded, some of his men were carrying him  to the rear, he said, " Don't
mind me, but go ahead and give it to them."   Major Ryerson, of
the same regiment, displayed  the same unshrinking courage.  As
his men were being forced  back inch  by inch, he rushed to the
colors and waving  his sword  called to them  to rally around him,
and even as they did so, was shot down.';  A  corporal of the Second Regiment named James Marshall stood by the colors, bearing
them  defiantly aloft, until it was impossible longer to  hold  out,
when tearing them  from  the staff, he buried them  out of sight.6
while gallantly leading his men. Where all behaved so well, it appears almost invidious
to mention names, but admiration of the cool courage of Colonel Tucker and other
officers named is the universal sentiment of eye-witnesses. Adjutant Cool rendered
efficient service in carrying orders, and had his horse shot under him.":1 Colonel Isaac M. Tucker, when he fell at the post of duty, was some thirty years of
age, and on the threshold, comparatively, of his military career. lHe entered the service
as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second Regiment, but from the first, owing to the incapacity or indifference of the commanding officer, was practically the controlling spirit
of the command. He possessed fine soldierly accomplishments, having been for many
years connected with the military organizations of Newark, and was in some respects
peculiarly fitted for the position to which he was soon advanced, as Colonel of his regiment. As a disciplinarian, he lacked, perhaps, that firmness which in some cases is
necessary to the enforcement of authority; but happily he had the unbounded confidence of his men, and there being, therefore, little occasion for rigid severity, this one
defect in his military character was little more, in actual outcome, than a foible. In
personal courage, fertility of resource, and readiness of apprehension, Colonel Tucker
hafl few superiors; and from the first, his eminent social qualities, joined with his high
intellectual attainments, made him a favorite with the best class of officers in the field.
Before entering the service, he had been prominently identified for some years with the
political movements of his State, exerting, especially in his own city, a commanding
influence in the party to which he belonged; and had he remained in civil life, many
honors must undoubtedly have been his.  But he was a believer in the principles
which the rebellion imperilled; he had helped largely to establish the Administration
which was called upon to suppress the revolt; and at the first call for men, he prepared to defend in the field the cause he had consistently maintained by pen, voice and
vote during all the agitations of recent years. He fell, as brave men choose to fall,
with his face to the foe, fighting with a bare handful of men against overwhelming
numbers; and his memory is revered by all who who knew him as he was, and how
much he sacrificed in the country's cause. Frequent attempts have been made to recover his remains, but all without success.
16 In this heroic act, Marshall was assisted by corporal Mauvel, of Company I, and
Jesse Conover, of Company K, who stood by him when the regiment was ordered to
fall back. After performing this act, they laid down, and just then Marshall had his
thumb shot off, and Conover was struck by a spent ball, which did no injury. By this
time the rebels came up and captured them; and the next day they were taken to
Richmond. Major Ryerson, of the Second, who was also taken prisoner, remained
on the battle field ten days, receiving little sustenance or care, although badly
wounded.
11




82               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
Lieutenant-Colonel McAllister, of the First Regiment, displayed
the utmost coolness throughout, and many other officers and privates excited the warmest approbation by their steadiness under
fire."
The battle which has thus been described occurred on the 27th
of June. During that night our forces were withdrawn across the
Chickahominy to a strong position, having the stream on one side
and elaborate works facing Richmond on the other. Here the army
might still, beyond all question, have defeated the enemy. This,
indeed, is frankly conceded by rebel generals, one of whom says,
in his official report, that for two days after this last engagement
the situation of their army "was extremely critical and perilous,"
adding " that had McClellan moved his whole force in column, and
advanced it against any point of our (rebel) line of battle, though
the head of his column would have suffered greatly, its momentum
would  have  insured  him  success, and  the  occupation  of our
(rebel) works about Richmond;  and consequently the city (of
Richmond) might have been his reward."8   McClellan, however,
again shutting his eyes to a great opportunity, decided, instead of
once more delivering battle, to make a flank movement through
White Oak  Swamp to the James, and orders for the movement
17 The correspondent of the Newark Advertiser mentions the following incidents:
"Captain Frank S. Knight, of Company G, Third Regiment, was caught in a tight
place during the engagement, and was obliged to offer to give himself up as a prisoner. The nearest rebel to him said,'I'll take you prisoner,' and immediately struck
him in the back with the butt of his musket. Captain Knight drew his pistol and shot
the ruffian dead; and in the confusion managed to make his escape and got off the
field. He was afterwards taken prisoner at Savage's Station, however, as he would
not leave Lieutenant W. N. Evans, who was badly wounded in the spine and could
not be removed. Captain Knight is a brave officer, and much beloved by the men
of his company, who had but lately purchased a sword for him which was then on its
way to him.
"Lieutenant Thomas Howell, of Company I, Third Regiment, went all through the
fight uninjured, and acted with great bravery. But after his regiment came out of the
woods, and was forming to cross the bridge on its return to camp, he was struck in the
stomach by a chance and nearly spent cannon ball, which went clear through him,
killing him instantly. The Lieutenant was but seventeen years old and a talented and
worthy young man.
"During the battle, Captain R. T. Dunham, of General Taylor's staff, was sent to
General Porter with a message, and while delivering it, a rebel shell flew just over their
heads and struck in the midst of a group of five men, who were standing within twenty
feet of them, and exploded instantly, killing the whole group."
Is General Magruder's Official Report.




T4iE FIRST BRIGADE.                             88
were at once (on the night of the 27th) issued to the corps commanders.  On the morning  of the 28th, the First Brigade was
withdrawn to the woods in its rear, where it rested until midnight,
when it marched silently through the darkness towards Savage
Station, the terminus of the York and Richmond Railroad, and the
general stores and  ammunition  depot of our army.  Thence it
proceeded (liable to ambuscade and assault at every turn) by heavy
and painful marches-pausing  to  share in the battle of Malvern
Hill-to Harrison's Landing, where at length the harrassed and
wayworn army found a brief respite from hostilities, and gathered
strength for conflicts yet to come.19 During the campaign Frank19 On the 30th, while passing through White Oak Swamp, the rear guard of our
army was violently assailed by a large force of the enemy-McCall's Pennsylvania Reserves, who held the front, being driven back after a desperate encounter, when the
rebels rushed forward to capture our guns, and a succession of terrible struggles ensued. Finally, our troops gradually falling back, General Kearney, who was also engaged, sent a request to General Franklin for the First Jersey Brigade, which was at
once forwarded. As the men advanced at the call of their old leader, they were met
by him and informed of the critical situation of affairs, when, forming in the edge of
the woods, and throwing off their knapsacks, they dashed at a double quick toward the
point of danger (Charles City Cross Roads), cheering as they went with the wildest
enthusiasm..But now the rebels, exhausted by their struggles, and alarmed by the
cheers of the Jerseymen, fell back in haste to the woods in their rear, and our forces
were permitted to withdraw without further contest. Few events of the war illustrated so well the character of our troops, and the attachment they felt for General
Kearney, as this eager response to his call for help-a response in which everything
was abandoned that he might once more win the day. Kearney himself never forgot
that day, and to the men of the First Brigade the memory of the greeting he gave them
as they hurried at his call, will be ever precious.
The correspondent of the Newark Daily Advertiser (A. D. Fowler) furnished the
following account of the incidents of the retreat:
"It was about eight o'clock on the morning of Sunday, June 29th, when the First
New Jersey Brigade passed through Savage's Station, and took a cross road, passing
over a part of the battle field of Fair Oaks, towards the Williamsburg road, which we
entered near Seven Pines. We marched down this road some three or four miles, leaving Bottom's Bridge to the left, and then struck into a road leading through White
Oak Swamp. * *     *
"Just before noon we came to White Oak Swamp Creek, and here we found a regiment of engineers and mechanics at work building two bridges, side by side, across the
creek. This duty was completed shortly after we got there, and our division passed
over without difficulty. After crossing the bridge we halted for a few hours in a large
peach orchard on the top of a high hill that commanded the crossing.  When our
artillery was brought over the creek it was placed in position along the whole summit
of this hill, commanding the crossing over which we had just passed. The neighboring woods were cut down for acres on each side of the creek, forming an abattis, and
every preparation made for keeping the enemy in check at this point-a most important one for us-until our forces got rest. Our division marched from here about three
o'clock, leaving the artillery still guarding the bridges, supported by a large force of
infantry from Sumner's and Heintzelman's corps.




84                NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
lin's Corps had lost a total of two  thousand  seven hundred  and
thirty-seven men, of whom two hundred and forty-five were killed,
and the entire loss of the army was fifteen thousand two hundred
and forty-nine. Surely where so many had fallen, desperately and
bravely fighting, there should have been other and grander results
than any which  McClellan  had  to show.  An  army as brave as
ever marched, worsted and defeated, its dead abandoned, stark and
gaunt behind  it, its stores burned, its camp equipage destroyed,
even the wounded left to die unattended in swamp and thicket;
this was not the result for which the nation prayed and waited, for
which  the men, living  and  dead, had  fought.  Whose was the
fault?
Movements in another Dart of the field now demand attention.
" This day was very hot, but the sun was fortunately overcast and the men stood the
fatigues of the march most heroically. About five o'clock p. m., the New Jersey Brigade was marched into a large clover field, and our General was informed that our
division would be held there during the greater part of the night, while the wagon
trains and a portion of the army were being pushed along. The men were immediately ordered to stack arms, after which they took a bite of supper-at least those who
had any did-and then spread their blankets upon the soft grass and stretched themselves out for a little much needed rest.
" On the morning of Monday, June 30, we were marched but two or three miles, and
were then halted on a small road leading off from the main road into White Oak Swamp.
The First and Third Regiments were then sent out into a pine woods and there formed
into line; as an attack was looked for from that direction. The Second Regiment was
sent down the road to support the Eighty-seventh New York (of Kearney's Division),
who had been sent out to destroy a bridge in the swamp to our left, which movement
was successfully executed. We here found that we had again become neighbors to the
Second N. J. Brigade and Kcarney's troops, being the first time we had seen them
since leaving Camp Lincoln.
"At one-fifteen P. M., a party of rebels came down to the bridge, which our forces
were destroying, but were soon shelled back. At one-thirty-five, every thing being
then quiet, our regiment had stacked arms and were resting on the grass awaiting
orders. The General and his staff selected a shady spot on a side hill, and were making
a frugal lunch on the remains of the pig left from breakfast, when a large force of rebels
came out of the woods in our front, with six pieces of artillery and immediately opened
fire. The position of the Jersey troops at this time was a perilous one, being directly
between the fire of the rebels and that of the main body of our forces. When the
rebels opened fire their first shell fell plump in our headquarters.
"The regiments of the New Jersey Brigade were quickly formed into line of battle,
and General Taylor immediately sent one of his aids, Lieutenant E. B. Grubb, up the
road to General Slocum's headquarters for orders. The road which the aid was compelled to take was directly in range of the rebel batteries, and the ride was consequently
a most perilous one; but he dashed on, reaching his destination safely. Not finding
General Slocum, he was compelled to return; but orders being imperatively necessary,
he was again obliged to repeat his ride through that rain of shot and shell.
"With death staring him in the face at every bound of his horse, the gallant aid




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                             85
On the 26th of July, General John Pope had been appointed to
the command of a force designated the Army of Virginia, consisting of all the troops then covering Washington and holding the
lower Shenandoah Valley, with instructions to make a fresh demonstration against Richmond  from  the Rappahannock, in order thus
to effect a diversion in favor of General McClellan's army, and
enable it to abandon the Peninsula without further loss. The entire
strength of this newly organized command was nearly fifty thousand men, of whom, probably, forty thousand could be employed in
the field. The enemy showing a disposition to resist the advance
with a strong force, Pope, on the 8th of August, ordered his infantry and artillery to concentrate upon Culpepper, the cavalry
holding Madison Court House, and picketing the country in advance
for a distance of several miles. On the day following, Stonewall
again, went back, and this time succeeded in getting orders. Our regiments were
ordered to a position in which they might serve partly as a support to a battery and
partly as a repelling party, if it became necessary. This battle of Monday was one of
the severest of the march, and lasted all the afternoon. The Jersey troops took no
active part in it, although they were under a tremendous fire. In fact the storm of
battle over them was furious-they were compelled to lay flat upon their faces, sheltering themselves behind logs as best they could, the whole afternoon.
"At about midnight the army was again put in motion, and marched down the road
to our left-the road for which we had fought so desperately-towards the James
river. We were obliged to leave our wounded behind to fall into the enemy's hands,
but there was no help for it; we had no means of transporting them, and as our
salvation depended upon our reaching the James river as soon as possible, we had to
push on.
"Our division marched down the road over the battle field in perfect silence-long
lines of men-those whose turn it was to bring up the rear-being drawn up on either
side as we passed through. Thus we went forward all night unmolested, at seven
o'clock in the morning of July 1st, reaching a high hill or plateau of land, in sight
of which was the long and ardently looked for James river. We rested on the brow
of this hill about an hour and then again took up the march for Harrison's Landingbearing down the river instead of going towards it. As we were leaving this hill the
rebels came out of the woods to the brow of another hill some distance on the left and
in the rear of us, and our brigade had hardly left the hill before they opened fire.
Another battle-and the one in which the rebels confess to the greatest loss, that of
Turkey Bend-occurred here, commencing but a short time after the New Jersey
Brigade had left. We continued our march three or four miles and then camped in
the woods by the side of the road until midnight, when we again pushed on, reaching
this place (Harrison's Landing) about eight o'clock on the morning of Wednesday,
July 2d.
" On arriving we were marched into a wheat field, comprising some six hundred or
eight hundred acres, and immediately encamped. We now felt that our troubles were
ended, for we were on the banks of the James, on the placid face of which, immediately
in our front, lay the dreaded Monitor, the Galena and several other gunboats, under
whose guns was assurance of perfect safety."




86             NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Jackson, with a force of twenty thousand men, reached Cedar
Mountain, in the vicinity of which he immediately offered battle,
being confronted by Banks' Corps, numbering in all some eigh
thousand men, who, after a desperate contest, were forced from the
field with a considerable loss both of men and material.  On the
11th, aware that his communications were likely to be broken,
Jackson hurriedly retreated across the Rapidan, and Pope, ascertaining some four days after, that the whole rebel army was rapidly
assembling to overwhelm him, retired across the Rappahannock,
and there, guarding and fortifying the fords, awaited the enemy.
Meanwhile, on the 3d, General McClellan had been ordered to
withdraw his army from the Peninsula by water to Acquia Creek,
but it was not until the 10th that he commenced vigorously to
execute the order.  Ten days later Porter's Corps embarked at
Newport News, and on the 24th the entire force had landed at Alexandria.  HIeintzelman's and Porter's Corps were at once pushed forward to the relief of Pope, the latter taking position at Warrenton
Junction, and the former in the neighborhood of Bealton Station.
Franklin's Corps landing on the 24th, the First Brigade was marched
to Cloud's Mills, where it remained until the 26th.  By this time,
Lee having brought up nearly his entire army, struck our lines
with great force at various points, inflicting heavy loss, and gaining
positive advantages-Jackson, as usual, being in the advance, and
having carried Manassas Junction with all its stores, munitions and
supplies.  Two Ohio Regiments, hearing of the disaster on the
27th advanced upon the Junction, but were soon beaten back with
loss, the rebel cavalry pursuing as far as Fairfax. Meantime, the
First Brigade, now reduced to eleven hundred men0" under orders
from General Franklin, was sent forward (on the 27th) by rail to
Bull Run bridge, where, debarking, two regiments, together with
the Eleventh and Twelfth Ohio, were disposed to guard the bridge,
and the remainder of the command pushed forward to the old bat20 The four regiments number now, fit for duty, one thousand one hundred men
The First has about three hundred; the Second two hundred and fifty; the Third three
hundred and seventy-five, and the Fourth seventy-five men."-Letter to ezwark Adver'
Uiser, July 25th,.




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                     87
tie-field. At this time it was supposed that no more formidable
body of the enemy than gangs of guerrillas would be encountered
at that point, but this was soon found to be a mistake. As the
column neared the battle-field, the officers descried through their
glasses considerable bodies of troops in front, showing, however,
the American colors, and at first firing only blank cartridges.
This, however, proved to be only a stratagem to draw our forces
into their power; and discovering the deception, General Taylor
at once determined to charge and carry the enemy's battery, now in
full view. Hardly, however, had he come within charging distance,
when he was opened upon with a distructive fire from two other
batteries on the right and left, which up to this time had been
masked. At the same time the rebel infantry opened, and for an
hour the little column was exposed to a fire of grape and balls,
which produced fearful havoc in the ranks-the men, however, standing bravely up to their work, until it was no longer possible to endure the leaden storm.2  Even then, they fell back deliberately
and in good order, though sorely pressed by the enemy, with both
artillery and cavalry.  Reaching the Bull Run bridge, the battle
was again sharply renewed by the wasted regiments, who, however,
were presently relieved by the Eleventh and Twelfth Ohio. About
this time General Taylor was severely wounded in the leg, several
officers and a large number of men had fallen, and the enemy pressing down in overpowering force, the field was abandoned-the
command marching to Fairfax Station, and thence to Cloud's Mills,
where it arrived at noon on the 28th.
Few engagements of that memorable and disastrous compaign
were more hotly and desperately contested than this, and in none
were the Union forces so largely outnumbered.  Not only was
General Taylor without cavalry and artillery, but his men were exhausted by rapid marching under a scorching sun, and were, moreover, at the very outset of the engagement surprised and ambushed
by the enemy. It was said at the time by some carping critics,
21 Stonewall Jackson, who was present on the field, afterwards said that he had rarely
seen a body of men who stood up so gallantly, in the face of overwhelming odds, as
did the Jersey troops on this occasion.




88                NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
anxious to find a target for their malignity, that General Taylor
was criminally in fault in having undertaken  such a movement
without artillery and cavalry supports, but he did precisely as he
was ordered, and the responsibility of the blunder, if blunder it
was, rests elsewhere than with him.  He, as brave a soldier as ever
went a-field, fell a sacrifice to his habit of obeying orders, however
unwelcome or perilous the service they  imposed;2 and  mayhap,
had the sneaking grumblers who then and all through the war
dashed with venomed pens the reputation of every commander who
failed to achieve the impossible, been with him in the ranks, instead of skulking out of reach of danger, on that bloody day, the
field had been won instead of lost. The losses of the brigade
during this engagement were nine killed, one hundred and eight
wounded, forty-five missing, and one hundred and sixty-six taken
prisoners-the latter being subsequently paroled.23
At other points of the field the battle still raged with growing
22 General Taylor died at Alexandria September 1st, from the effects of the amputation
of his wounded limb.
23 The following is the official statement of losses:
Killed.   Wounded.   Missing.   Paroled.
General and Staff.............. -        2  
First Regiment.................. 1       47            2         78
Second  ".................. 8        39           31         45
Third   "................. -         14            7         43
Fourth  ".............. -             6            5 
Among the officers wounded were Captains Wildrick, Bishop and Stahl, of the Second Regiment, Captain Stickney and Lieutenants Carr and Taylor, (the latter a nephew
of the General,) of the Third, and Captain Nippins, of the Fourth. Captain Nippins
had just been released from prison in Richmond, and reached the camp of his regiment
only the night before the advance.
A correspondent of the Philadelphia Press says of the operations of General Taylor's
force: " Their orders were to take the position held by the enemy, at all hazards, but
they were not provided with a single piece of artillery. When General Taylor approached the rebel batteries they pointed their guns in another direction, causing him
to suppose they were our forces firing on the enemy. He then moved forward to support them, when two batteries opened on him and disclosed their true character.
"Finding out their true character, General Taylor gave the order to charge and take
the battery by storm. They proceeded to within three hundred yards of the rebel
battery, when the fire became so murderous and our men fell so fast, that Taylor found
it would be impossible to take the battery, and therefore gave the order to march off
the field in line of battle. This was done in an excellent manner. * * * During
the whole of the charge on the rebel battery, the New Jersey Brigade did not fire a
single gun, although they were under a murderous fire for an hour and a half. General
Taylor wanted to take the place by the bayonet. Had he been supplied with a battery
of artillery he could, no doubt, have driven the rebels out of their entrenchments."




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                          89
fury. On the 28th, Pope, who had awakened at last to a sense of
his danger, pushed forward all his available forces upon Centreville,
whence General Kearnev's Division was on the following morning
advanced against Stonewall Jackson, then near Gainesville.  Here
a large part of both armies became engaged, Kearney fighting with
magnificent gallantry, and sweeping the enemy's first line clear
from the field, being, however, later in the day, repulsed in turn,
and night closing with both armies resting on the field. Pope,
however, was really beaten, and from that time forward, expected
reinforcements not arriving, struggled against hope. On the 30th,
Porter making a feeble attack, was repulsed, and the enemy pursuing his advantage, joined battle along the entire front, so crippling
our recoiling columns, that at eight o'clock in the evening, the
army was directed to withdraw, which it deliberately did, taking
position near Centreville, where Franklin's Corps had by this time
arrived. Lee, determining upon striking our right, advanced Jackson toward Fairfax Court House, where, on the evening of September 1st, he was confronted by two divisions of Sumner's Corps, and
subsequently, also by Kearney's Division, the latter closing the
fight by driving the enemy from the field. The victory, however,
was a costly one-General Kearney, while  riding forward on a
reconnoissance, being shot dead, when almost within the rebel
lines, while General Stevens and other gallant officers had also
fallen.  But Jackson's repulse secured the safe withdrawal of our
shattered army, which, no longer annoyed, drew back within the
entrenchments on the south bank of the Potomac-the First Brigade resuming its old position at Camp Seminary.24
24 The following is Colonel Torbert's report of the operations of the brigade, after
Colonel Taylor's death:
HEADQUARTERS FIRST BRIGADE, 
FIRST DIVISION, SIXTH CORPS, 
November 26, 1862.
" SIR: I have the honor to report the following as the part taken by this brigade il
General Pope's campaign in Virginia. The brigade, about sixteen hundred strong,
marched from Alexandria August 29th, and camped at Benton's Tavern, (on the Little
River Turnpike,) about seven miles. August 30th, marched to Fairfax Court House;
there received orders from General Slocum to leave four companies and picket all of
the roads running out of that place, and to encamp with the balance of my brigade and
Captain Hexamer's Battery on the Centreville pike, about two miles from Fairfax Court
House. Left four companies of the First Regiment, under command of Captain Baker,
12




,o90             NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
But the weary and footsore soldiers were not yet to find rest.
Lee, immediately  upon  Pope's retreat, dispatched  Hill's  fresh
division, in the rear of his army, to Leesburg, thence crossing the
Potomac and moving on Frederick, where his entire force was concentrated on September 8th. General McClellan, who was again
in supreme command, at once brought his several corps across the
Potomac, and advanced upon Frederick, which he entered on the
12th, the rebels having already moved westward, a  portion  towards Harper's Ferry. and the remainder towards Hagerstown. On
the 13th, our advance came up with the enemy in force before Turner's Gap of South Mountain, where, on the 14th, he was assailed
and steadily pushed back, until the crest of the mountain was won,
and the day at all points was ours.  Meanwhile, Franklin's Corps
had advanced cautiously by way of Rockville and Burkettsville,
towards South Mountain, reaching, at noon on the 14th the pass
who carried out the above instructions.  Encamped as above ordered and sent one
company of the First Regiment to Germantown, on the Little River Turnpike, and
picketed from there across to the Centreville pike, and half a mile beyond, with detachments from my four regiments-the picket line running about half a mile in front
of my position. August 31st, relieved the four companies of the First Regiment at
Fairfax Court House by six companies of the Second Regiment, under command of
Major Duffy, with orders to act as Provost Marshal and picket strongly on the Flint
Hill and Vienna road, Falls Church road, and Fairfax Station road, and guard a number
of prisoners there. Early in the morning I doubled my pickets, extending them to the
right of Germantown and about a mile up the Little River pike.
"About three p. in., I was in Fairfax Court House, where a dispatch was sent me
that the enemy had captured Captain Hight's Second Cavalry, on the Little River pike,
about three miles from Germantown, and were advancing on my pickets. I immediately
started to my camp, and near the town met a few of the company above referred to
and Lieutenant Harrison, of the cavalry, whom I took with me. I then took half of
the Fourth Regiment, under Colonel Hatch, to reinforce the pickets, and arrived very
opportunely at the picket line, as the enemy's cavalry were advancing on the Little
River pike, but seeing my force, halted, and then retired. About dark, I received orders
from General Pope to send two regiments and two pieces of artillery as a guard to the
trains en route to Alexandria, as far as Cloud's Mills. I sent, accordingly, the First and
Third Regiments, leaving me two regiments and four pieces of artillery.
"Near 8 p. m., the enemy brought three pieces of artillery into position at the edge
of a wood, between the two turnpikes, about three hundred yards from the pickets and
the same distance from the Centreville pike, where the trains were moving. They fired
six shots into the train and my camp, killing two or three horses and stampeding the
train. Drivers deserted their wagons and the greatest confusion prevailed. My guards,
stationed on the road to arrest stragglers, by great exertions stopped the train and restored order, forcing men to take charge of the wagons and drive them to Alexandria
and towards Centreville.
"I immediately advanced a part of my picket line opposite the (rebel) artillery, which
retired; prepared my own artillery for action, and sent the Second Regiment up on the




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                            91
through Crampton's Gap, just beyond Burkettsville, and several
miles southwest of the point at which our advance was already engaged.   Here, General Howell Cobb, with  three brigades, was
advantageously posted.  The road  at this point is narrow  and
winds up the mountain in long reaches.; and the enemy had availed
himself of every advantage of his position, every crag, and tree,
and rock, affording shelter to his men.  At the foot of the most
precipitous part of the hill his infantry was posted behind stone
walls, while along the slopes were detachments of sharp-shooters,
and the only point at which an attempt to scale the heights could
possibly be made, was swept by eight pieces of artillery. Notwithstanding, however, the great strength of the position, it was determined to attack without delay, and Newton's Brigade of Slocum's Division was ordered up to strike the initial blow, while the
New  Jersey Brigade, now  commanded  by Colonel Torbert, was
directed to support Newton's advance. Simultaneously with this
movement, General Brook's Brigade of Smith's Division, was sent
to skirmish the mountain, and advance upon the extreme  right
flank of the enemy.  It had, however, a long distance to traverse,
Centreville pike, opposite the point where the train was shelled. Then sent a staff
officer to report to General Pope the state of affairs. General Pope ordered a brigade,
five regiments, under command of Colonel Hinks, and two batteries from the rear to
report to me that night. None of them arrived, however, until next morning (September 1st) about -    o'clock, when I put two regiments on picket, and the others in
position, with the right resting on Germantown, the latter place being about half a
mile from my headquarters. About nine a. m. the enemy's cavalry pickets wounded
one of mine; a few shots being exchanged they retired.
"Late in the afternoon, I received orders from General Pope to move my brigade to
Germantown, with a notification that General Hooker had command of all troops at
that point and Fairfax Court House. I then reported to General Hooker at the above
mentioned place, where I remained in line of battle all night, the most of the time in a
drenching rain. As I was going to Germantown I received a despatch from General
Pope to send back on the road to Washington and hurry up all troops on the way to
the front, and order up those in camp on the road. I at once started a staff officer
to carry out the order, which he did, leaving the dispatch at General McClellan's
headquarters.
"My other two regiments, and the six companies, under Major Duffy, from Fairfax
Court House, joined me next morning, (September 2d,) and that afternoon and night
my brigade was marched to Fairfax Seminary, near Alexandria.
"Much credit is due to Major Duffy, Captain Dunham, A. A. A. G.; Lieutenant
Wilson, of the Third Regiment, A. A. D. C., and also Lieutenant Harrison, of the
Second Cavalry, who acted as aide de camp till September 2d.
I A. T. A. TORBERT."




92               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
and thus the engagement was a single straightforward attack by
Slocum's Division, with a contingency on the rebel flank in case
the resistance was insurmountable. Steadily the men of Newton's
Brigade advanced to the charge, pushing the enemy before them,
and leaping all the obstructions in the way.23'Then, at the word
of command, Torbert's Brigade moved promptly forward, pressing
up to the foot of the steep declivity. Here the flying enemy rallied behind the wall, evidently expecting to hold it, and check our
advance.   But he was  mistaken.   Again  the  Brigade, with a
cheer, rushed resistlessly forward, carrying the position; and dashing up the rocky slopes, in the face of a perfect storm of balls,
drove the enemy, crouching at every angle, from the very summit
of the hill far down on the further side,26 the pursuit only pausing
when  night closed upon the scene.  During the pursuit a large
number of prisoners were taken, " especially from  Cobb's Brigade,
nearly the whole of the Cobb  Legion being captured, with their
colors, bearing the inscription, " Cobb's Legion-in the name of the
Lord." 8  The colors of the Sixteenth Virginia Regiment were also
taken, and the enemy, whose dead were thickly strewn  along the
stony slope, lost also one gun-saving the remaining pieces only with
the greatest difficulty, so sudden and resistless was the charge of the
Jersey veterans.  The total loss of the Brigade during the day, in
killed and wounded, was one hundred  and seventy-four, Adjutant
Studdiford, of the Fourth Regiment, being among the former.9
23 These obstructions consisted of six rail fences and two stone walls, all of which
were held by the enemy's infantry.
26 Ellis's " Diary of an Army Surgeon " says of this charge: " It is hardly possible
to conceive how this position could have been carried; but it was, with little delay and
loss by our men. After the battle, it was found that it was awork of no small difficulty
to climb the precipitous side of the hill."
Major-General Newton informs the writer that this was one of the most gallant
charges he ever witnessed, and others who-witnessed it uniformly bear the same
testimony. Had a force of cavalry been at command, the whole opposing force might,
it is believed, have been captured.
27 Our aggregate trophies were four hundred prisoners, one gun, and seven hundred
small arms.
28 ", The Cobb Legion, commanded by the General's brother, was terribly cut up; but
few of its number came out of the action alive. Besides the fire of our advance column, they suffered from an enfilading fire on both sides. Several rebel officers were
killed, and many taken prisoners."-Diary of an Army Surgeon.
29 The following were the losses by regiments; First Regiment, killed 7, wounded




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                              93
We have seen that a part of Lee's army, upon its arrival at
Frederick, had been detached to operate against Harper's Ferry.
On the 15th, that post, after a show of resistance on the part of
General Miles, who there held command, was surrendered to Jackson, who, fearing that Lee was pressed, at once marched with his
command to rejoin his chief, which he did on the following morning
at Antietam.  Meanwhile, McClellan pushing forward his advance,
34; Second Regiment, killed 13, wounded 42; Third Regiment, killed 11, wounded 29;
Fourth Regiment, killed 9, wounded 27. Total killed, 40; total wounded, 132.
A letter from the Second Regiment to fie Newark Advertiser, dated the day after the
battle, says: " We pursued the enemy until we were so fatigued we could go no further,
and achieved a complete victory-the rebels throwing down their arms and begging for
mercy. A little squad of six, under the Adjutant of the Third Regiment, took a lieutenant and eleven men prisoners." Another correspondent, writing to the same paper,
says: "When we relieved Newton's Brigade, and opened fire on the enemy, they were
at the foot of the mountain, some three hundred yards from us. We had not fired
over a dozen rounds, when Colonel Torbert ordered a charge over the fence, and at it
we went, across the field at a double quick. The rebels stood their ground until we
got within twenty yards of them, when they broke and ran like sheep, and we after
them. At some points the hill was so steep that we had to go upon' all fours,' but we
gained the top. Here they were reinforced by another brigade, but our boys were too
much for the entire lot, and we soon got them running again, and kept right on in
pursuit until we gained the opposite side of the mountain."
The following is Colonel Torbert's congratulatory order to the brigade:
" HEADQUARTERS, FIRST BRIGADE, FIRST DIVISION, 
SIXTH CORPS, CAMP IN CRAMPTON'S PASS,
MARYLAND, September 15, 1862.
General Orders.
"Soldiers of the First New Jersey Brigade:-The l14th day of September, 1862, is
one long to be remembered, for on that day you dashingly met and drove the enemy
at every point. Your advance in line of battle, under a galling artillery fire, and final
bayonet charge, was a feat seldom if ever surpassed. The heights you took show plainly
what determined and well disciplined soldiers can do.
"You have sustained the reputation of your State, and done great credit to your
officers and yourselves. While we lament the death of our brave comrades who have
fallen so gloriously, we can only commend their souls to God, and their sorrowing
friends to his sure protection. May you go from victory to victory is the hope and
wish of the Colonel Commanding Brigade.
A. T. A. TORBERT,
Colonel Commanding.
Colonel Torbert's official report of this brilliant affair, dated September 16th, is as
follows:
"It being decided to attack the enemy posted in the Pass, the division was ordered
to advance in six lines, two regiments front, the First Brigade in rear. About three
o'clock, I marched my brigade in two lines, by the right flank, under cover till we
gained the open ground, when the advance was made in line of battle as follows:
First line, First and Second Regiments; second line, one hundred and fifty paces
in rear, Third and Fourth Regiments. They advanced about half a mile with great
regularity through clover and corn fields, intersected by high wood and stone fences,
being exposed the greater part of the time to the enemy's artillery fire. Arriving




94               NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
came up with the enemy in front of Sharpsburg, posted across Antietam Creek, and at once formed in line of battle. The following
day, however, was suffered to pass without a general demonstration, but on the morning of the 17th, the battle opened in earnest,
raging with great vehemence and varying fortune until nightfall.
The First Brigade, which had marched from its bivouac in Crampton's Gap, took position about twelve o'clock in the night, in front
of a belt of woods, relieving General Sumner's Corps, which had
within supporting distance of Colonel Bartlett's Brigade, which was engaging the
enemy, I halted. Soon after, I ordered the Second Regiment forward to relieve one of
Bartlett's regiments, which was out of ammirition, which they did with promptness.
"The enemy was posted behind a stone wall at the base of the mountain, with a
wood just behind them. At this time the distance between the contending parties
was between three and four hundred yards, an open field intervening. Thinking the
distance too great, General Newton ordered me to charge forward to the woods.
Accordingly I ordered forward my second line, Third and Fourth Regiments, to charge
across the open field into the woods. The first line was ordered to cease firing. A
cheer, and the men went forward at double quick in a most gallant manner leaping
the fence on the way, behind which our men had been fighting. When they had
advanced about a hundred and fifty yards, I ordered the second line, First and Second
Regiments, to charge in the same manner as the first, which they did most handsomely.
The enemy, although holding a very strong position, and having the advantage of
artillery, could not stand these charges, so broke and fled up the mountain-side in
great disorder, closely pursued by our men, who drove them through the Pass and
some distance in the valley on the other side, when night put an end to the
pursuit.
" Too much cannot be said in praise of the bravery and gallantry of both officers and
men; they certainly did credit to themselves and the State they represent. I am
pleased to make particular mention of Lieutenant-Colonel Collett, (of Third Regiment,)
commanding the First Regiment; Colonel Buck, Second Regiment; Colonel Brown,
Third Regiment, and Colonel Hatch, for their bravery, coolness, and the admirable
manner with which they handled their regiments.    *    A great many of the enemy
were taken prisoners, and among them several officers. The brigade captured nearly
enough Springfield rifled muskets to arm the Fourth Regiment, who were before
armed with the smooth-bore musket. I am happy to state that the Fourth Regiment,
which lost its colors before Richmond, captured two colors during this engagement.
"I regret to mention the death of Josiah S. Studdiford, First Lieutenant and Adjutant of the Fourth Regiment, who fell while gallantly cheering on his men, just as we
gained the top of the Pass.
" The loss to the brigade has been as follows: One officer killed and nine wounded;
thirty-nine non-commissioned officers and privates killed, and one hundred and twentyfive wounded-total, one hundred and seventy-four."
Adjutant Studdiford, who was killed in this battle, was born July 2d, 1837.  Graduating at Princeton College in June, 1858, he entered the law office of Hon. A. G. Richey,
of Trenton, and had almost completed his legal studies when, in response to the
country's call, he volunteered as Adjutant of the Fourth Regiment in August, 1861. He
was taken prisoner in the battle of Gaines' Mill, in June, 1862. After his release he
served with marked distinction in the second battle of Bull Run, and finally fell, as
already stated, bravely fighting for the nation's flag. A brave soldier and courteous
gentleman, his memory is precious to all who knew his worth and can appreciate
genuine nobility of character.




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                      95
been hotly engaged. Here it remained for some forty-two hours,
until long after the battle had closed, being for six hours exposed
to a very severe artillery fire, but not actually engaged-the remainder of the corps, however, performing gallant service. The
casualties of the brigade during this time were two men killed
and seventeen wounded.  The ground in front of the brigade, and
north of the position held by it, was the scene of some of the
bloodiest struggles of the day, Hexamer's battery, especially, doing
fearful execution in the ranks of the enemy.'~
Though this battle closed indecisively, it was one of the bloodiest, and to the enemy one of the costliest of the war, his loss being
over thirteen thousand men, including many valuable officers, and
it is not surprising that, during the night, Lee moved off across
the Potomac, leaving his dead on the field. The pursuit not being
vigorously pressed, the bleeding columns of the enemy effected a
safe lodgment in Virginia, and moving leisurely down the valley,
awaited the development of McClellan's programme.  The Union
forces finally crossing the Potomac, moved down to Warrentown,
where McClellan was relieved of command, and Burnside succeeding, there was a brief cessation of hostilities. The First Brigade
remained in Maryland until the 2d of October, when it crossed at
Berlin, and after tedious marching and countermarching, went into
camp on the 18th at Stafford Court House, where it remained until
ordered to the Rappahannock to participate in the movement
against Fredericksburg.
In this movement, it will be remembered, Franklin's column,
consisting of the First and Sixth Corps, and embracing the First
Brigade occupied the left, his right wing resting on the outskirts of
Fredericksburg, his left resting on the river some three miles below,
and his centre advanced a mile in front. The First Brigade, which
then included the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifteenth and
Twenty-third Regiments, reached the north bank of the river on
the night of the 11th of December, and crossing at daylight on
30 The losses by regiments Were as follows: First Regiment, killed none, wounded 6;
Second Regiment, killed 2, wounded 7; Third Regiment, killed none, wounded 1;
Fourth Regiment, killed none; wounded 3. Total killed, 2; wounded, 17.




96            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
the following morning, was formed in two lines in rear of its Division, (the First,) as follows: first line, Fifteenth and Twenty-third
Regiments, deployed; second line, First, Second, Third and Fourth
Regiments, in line of masses, one hundred yards in rear of the
first. Here it remained until two o'clock, when the brigade advanced across the plain, exposed to a heavy fire, to support the
second line of the division, then hotly engaged.  Here the men
were posted in a deep ravine to shelter them as much as possible
from the enemy's fire, and remained, lying on their arms, until
the following morning, when the pickets of the division were relieved by the Fifteenth Regiment, supported by the remainder of
the brigade. At this time, the battle was raging all along the line,
but the brigade was not actually engaged until three o'clock, when
Colonel Torbert was ordered to advance one regiment, supported
by a second, for the purpose of drawing the enemy from a position
which it was important to occupy,3 two regiments of the Third
Brigade being at the same time placed under his orders. Colonel
Torbert at once ordered Colonel Hatch, of the Fourth Regiment,
about three hundred men, to advance and take the position, simultaneously directing the left of the picket line with its reserve, under
Major Brown, of the Fifteenth, to support the movement.  These
troops promptly advanced in the most handsome manner, under a
severe fire of grape and canister, and then, reaching favorable
ground, led by the gallant Hatch, charged the enemy's position,
driving him from it with great loss, and capturing twenty-five
prisoners. Rallying, however, the rebels again returned to the fray,
and the position becoming critical, the Twenty-third Regiment
under Colonel Ryerson, and two regiments of the Third Brigade,
were hurried forward as a support-six companies of the Twentythird becoming immediately engaged, and fighting bravely. At
this moment, however, when everything was favorable to our arms,
General Torbert was ordered to halt the remainder of his supports
and fall back from the railroad, holding it by pickets only.  Reluc31 it The enemy, at the point designated in the order for assault, were posted in a railroad cut behind the embankment, just where the railroad crossed a deep ravine, and on
the extreme left of my picket line.'-Colonel Torbert's Report.




THE FIRST BRIGA)E.                              97
tantly the column, fighting with intrepid obstinacy, fell back, when,
as was to have been expected, the enemy seeing only a feeble picket
line in his immediate front, charged with a full brigade and recovered the lost position, compelling Torbert's command to take up
its original line.  Why it was advanced at all by General Brooks,
if the position was not to be held after being taken with serious
loss, is perhaps susceptible of explanation, but was certainly not so
regarded by the gallant fellows who fought, apparently, to no purpose. From this time forward until the night of the 15th, the
brigade remained inactive in the position it had occupied, the First
Regiment only being engaged on picket.  Upon the recrossing of
the army, after the battle, the brigade, with that of General Devins,
covered the withdrawal, being the last to leave the field on the left
of the lines.  The brigade lost in killed, wounded and missing,
one hundred and seventy-two men.'2
The battle of Fredericksburg terminated the campaign of 1862,
and the army went into winter quarters near Falmouth, where for
32 Second Regiment, killed none, wounded 1, missing none; Third Regiment, killed
none, wounded 2, missing none; Fourth Regiment, killed 8, wounded 36, missing 36;
Fifteenth Regiment, killed 4, wounded 20, missing 5; Twenty-Third Regiment, killed
5, wounded 37, missing 9. Total killed 17, wounded 96, missing 50.
Colonel Torbert, in his official report of the battle says: " Many of the missing were
wounded and taken prisoners. The brigade has lost one of its best and most gallant
officers in Colonel William B. Hatch, of the Fourth Regiment, who was wounded in
the right leg, having to have it amputated near the thigh. (He died a day or two after,
mourned by the whole brigade.) Captain Slater, of the Fifteenth, also lost a leg. I
am pleased to speak in the highest terms of the conduct of the Twenty-Third Regiment, a nine months' regiment, and this being the first time they have been under fire.
Their Colonel, (Ryerson,) formerly of the Second Regiment, who was badly wounded at'Gaines' Mill, was to be seen in the thickest of the fight, cheering on his men. Major
Grubb, of the Twenty-Third, deserves great credit for the manner in which he fought a
part of his regiment. Major Brown, of the Fifteenth, in command of the pickets, (who
was also wounded,) behaved with great coolness aid bravery."
The following may be mentioned as one of the many incidents of this battle: Private
Mulvey, of the Fifteenth Regiment, a fine marksman, had been doing good service with
his Enfield rifle, when he was cautioned by an officer against exposing himself to the
fire of the enemy's skirmishers. With a patriotic answer, he sprang forward to a pile
of railroad ties, where he presently discovered a rebel sharpshooter posted on the opposite side of the stream, behind a tree. A moment afterwards, the rebel thrust his
rifle and head out from the tree. Mulvey did the same above the pile of ties. There
was a double explosion; Mulvey fell back pierced through the brain with a Minie ball;
and at the same instant the rebel also tumbled over, his body in full view, pierced to
the brain through the eye. At sundown, the regiment holding that part of the field,
Mulvey was buried with his blanket around him, and left, without a monument, at
the place where, with his last breath, he had struck down a foe of the flag he loved.
13




98            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
nearly four months it rested in comparative quiet. The First
Brigade, during this time, was stationed near White Oak Church,
and being gradually strengthened by the return of the missing and
wounded, was prepared, when spring opened, once more to grapple
with the foe.
On the 30th of April, General Hooker, commanding the army of
the Potomac, having determined upon a movement, crossed the
Rappahannock and Rapidan, and with the bulk of his forces took
position at Chancellorsville-marking the movement by a feint of
crossing below Fredericksburg, where Sedgwick, with the Sixth
Corps, was left to divert attention from the operations of the main
army.  At this time, as before, the First Brigade was attached to
this corps, and it is only with its operations, therefore, that we have
to do. The brigade, commanded by Colonel Brown, in the absence
of Colonel Torbert, who was ill, crossed to the south side of the
Rappahannock, three miles below Fredericksburg, on the morning
of the 29th-the Fifteenth Regiment being in advance. Forming
in line of battle, the command, late in the afternoon, moved to the
front where it was placed on picket duty, being relieved, however,
on the following morning, when it fell back to the line of the riflepits close to the river.  This position was occupied until the evening of the second of May, when the First Regiment attacked and
drove in the enemy's pickets on the right, the ground thus taken
being promptly occupied and held. Meanwhile, the remainder of
the corps had crossed, and Sedgwick, urged to advance with all
haste by Hooker, who, at Chancellorsville, had sustained heavy loss,
prepared to push forward to the front. But the enemy, still on the
alert, had by this time concentrated a considerable body of troops
on Mary's Hill, west of Fredericksburg, where they had several
guns in position and were prepared to make obstinate resistance.
Promptly at daylight the First Brigade was advanced to the old
Richmond road, where it was put in position as support to a battery.
Meantime, the heights had been carried, and the brigade about
noon was ordered to advance-the Fifteenth Regiment, however,
and four companies of the Second, being detailed for special duty
elsewhere. Moving rapidly through Fredericksburg, the command




THE IRST  BRIGADE.                    99
proceeded some three miles in the direction of Chanceilorsville,
when, forming in line of battle, it still steadily advanced, the enemy
opening an artillery fire, until Salem Church was reached. Here
the enemy was found strongly posted in a thick woods, behind
brush fences and earthworks, both on the right and left of the road.
But the men who had stormed and carried a still more formidable
position at Crampton's Pass, did not falter here. Throwing out six
companies of the Second as skirmishers, the brigade advanced with
a shout and delivered a withering fire into the ranks of the foe,
but were in turn assailed with a sform of balls, which for a moment
staggered the column.  Still, however, the ground was stoutly
held, and after a stubborn resistance, the enemy was driven
through the thicket and into the rifle-pits beyond it, hundreds,
however, having fallen in the conflict. Meanwhile, the Fifteenth
Regiment, Colonel Penrose, having hurried to the front, had advanced into the thicket, and for a time fought four times its number
with the utmost bravery, but without dislodging the enemy. The
action on this and other parts of the line continued until nightfall,
when firing ceased, and the brigade bivouacked on the field. It
had lost largely, but it had fully sustained its exalted reputation.
The batteries and muskets of the enemy, blazing never so furiously, thundered upon its ranks in vain. For two hours and a half,
fighting on and on, not a face blanched before the tempest, not a
foot turned away backwards. The severest and most desperate
fighting of that bloody day, by common admission, was around
that tangled thicket where the veterans of Longstreet stood resolutely at bay; and the First Brigade, though it did not write a new
victory on its banners, approved itself, once more, worthy to march
and fight in the van of the battle-beaten army of the Potomac.
The brigade remained on the field during the whole of the following day, but was not engaged except as a support to batteries.
On the night of the 4th, the entire army withdrew, crossing the
river at Banks's Ford about dawn on the 5th, and proceeding by
slow marches to its old camp, where it arrived on the 8th.
The loss of the command in this battle was five hundred and
eleven men, in killed, wounded and missing, including seven com



100               NEW  JERSEY  AND  THE REBELLIO+N.
missioned officers killed and nineteen wounded. Colonel Brown,
who commanded the brigade during the early  part of the engagement, was severely wounded;  Colonel Collett, of the First, was
killed in  the thick of the fight, and Colonel Buck, of the Second,
sustained an injury from the fall of his horse, devolving the command upon Colonel Penrose, of the Fifteenth-the latter regiment
suffering more severely than  any, owing to the difficult nature  of
the ground over which it fought.''"  The total loss of all the New
Jersey Regiments engaged in this movement, a number Ilaving participated in the fighting  about Chancellorsville, was nearly  one
thousand six hundred men.:4:1 The following is the official table of losses: First Regiment, seven killed, seventyone wounded, and twenty-seven missing; Second Regiment, four killed, thirty-six
wounded, and nine missing; Third Regiment, ten killed, sixty-nine wounded and sixteen missing; Fifteenth Regiment, twenty-four killed, one hundred and twenty-six
wounded, and four missing; Twenty-third Regiment, twenty killed, fifty-seven wounded,
and thirty-one missing. Total, sixty-five killed, three hundred and fifty-nine wounded
and eighty-seven missing. Of the above, there were seven commissioned officers killed,
nineteen wounded, and two missing; fifty-eight enlisted men killed, three hundred
and forty wounded, and eighty-five missing.
34 The following orders and reports fnrnish partial details in reference to the service
of the First Brigade:
"HEADQUARTERS FIRST BRIGADE,
FIRST DIVISION, SIXTH CORPS, 
May 5th, 1863.
Generalg Or'dc'e, NVo. 60.
"The sad casualty to the brave Colonel Brown, of the Third Regiment, having placed
the brigade under my command, I cannot in justice to you or myself refrain from expressing my heartfelt thanks for the prompt and energetic manner in which you obeyed
my commands.
" Officers and men of the First New Jersey Brigade-You have earned for yourselves
imperishable fame, and nobly redeemed the pledge you so recently made on the receipt
of your new colors, which have been gallantly borne, and bravely defended, as the lifeblood of the brave Colonel Collett and many others sadly testifies.
" Where all behaved so well, it would be invidious to particularize, but I cannot refrain from mentioning the conduct of four companies of the Second Regiment, who, at
the command of their officers, bravely faced an ovcrwhelming force and coolly received
their deadly fire, thus enabling the regiment in the rear to reform and hold the enemy
in check.
"The thanks of the entire brigade arc eminently due to Captain Henry C. Cook,
Brigade Inspector, Lieutenant Whitchead, A. A. A. G., Lieutenants Abecl and Goldsmith, for their bravery and coolness, which added much to our success.
"By order,                                      " SAMUEL L. BUCK,
"Colonel Second New Jersey Volunteers,
"Commanding Brigade."
Brigade lieport.
"HEADQUARTERS FIRST BRIGADE,
FIRST DIVISION, SIXTH ARMY CORPS, 
May 12th, 1863. 
"I have the honor, in the absence of Colonels Brown and Buck, the former wounded




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                               101
General Lee, having defeated Hooker's movement against Richmond, again determined upon an offensive campaign, and early in
and the latter injured by an accident, to submit the following report of the action
taken by this brigade, in the recent movements on the south side of the Rappahannock,
in compliance with orders received from Headquarters, First Division, Sixth Army
Corps.
"On the afternoon of the 28th of April, took up line ofmarch for Franklin's crossing,
about two miles below Fredericksburg, reached the north bank of the Rappahannock,
where we bivouacked for the night, with the exception of the First New Jersey Volunteers, which was detached to support two batteries of the reserve artillery which were
to be stationed near the Grey Farm, about three miles below White Oak Church, on
the river. During that night, the regiment rejoined the brigade at Franklin's crossing.
"Just before daylight, on the morning of the 29th, the brigade moved down to the
river and crossed in pontoons, Fifteenth New Jersey Volunteers in the advance. The
regiments were promptly formed in line of battle on the south bank, where they remained until sundown, when it moved to the front, relieving General Russell's Brigade,
on picket duty immediately in front of the enemy.
" During the night, the enemy's pickets withdrew some five hundred yards, and in
the morning our pickets advanced and occupied their grounds, where we remained until dark, and being relieved by General Bartlett's Brigade we fell back to the line of
rifle pits, on the bank of the river. This position we occupied until Saturday evening,
when the Light Division moved to the front, the First New Jersey Volunteers being
detailed to extend their line to the right. Being deployed, they attacked and drove in
the enemy's pickets to the line of the railroad. During the night, the First Regiment
was relieved and returned to the brigade. On the morning of the 3d, the brigade was
under arms at two o' clock. Soon after daylight, the Fifteenth Regiment was ordered forward to the old Richmond road, on arriving at which the Colonel commanding was informed by the officer commanding picket line that the enemy were in strong force in
his immediate front, and preparing to attack. Information was immediately sent to
General Brooks, commanding the division, when the balance of the brigade was brbught
up, and took position on and near the road, in support of two batteries-McCartney's
and one other-which were brought up and put into position. This position was occupied until near noon, meeting with some loss from the enemy's shells, and fiom an
enfilading fire from their pickets.
"About this time the heights in front of Fredericksburg having been assaulted and
carried, the brigade was ordered to fall in and march towards Fredericksburg, with
the exception of four (4) companies of the Second New Jersey Volunteers, and the
Fifteenth Regiment, the former relieving a portion of Russell's Brigade on picket, the
latter to cover the withdrawal of the entire picket line. This latter was accomplished
without loss, the enemy withdrawing the same time as we did.
"The brigade, with the exception of the Fifteenth Regiment, and the four (4) companies of the Second Regiment, marched through Fredericksburg, and out the plank
road, about three miles, towards Chancellorsvillc, when they halted. Soon after the
Second New Jersey Volunteers was deployed as skirmishers in our front, the First,
Third and Twenty-third in line of battle two hundred yards in the rear. The brigade
was then ordered to advance under fire of the enemy's skirmishers until arriving near
Tabernacle Church, when the skirmishers retired, and the brigade taking the double
quick, charged the enemy m the following order, the Twenty-third New Jersey Volunteers on the left, and First and Third on right of plank road. Here the enemy were
found, strongly posted in a dense thicket, some three hundred yards in depth, protected
on the opposite side by earthworks and rifle pits.
"After a stubborn resistance for some time the enemy were driven through the
thicket, and into the rifle pits; here our further advance was checked, neither party




102                NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
June again  crossed  the  Potomac and  took  position on free  soil.
Hooker, after some delay, also  set his columns in motion, and on
gaining or losing ground; about this time the Fifteenth New Jersey Volunteers, and
four (4) companies of the Second, having learned the Brigade was engaged, pushed
rapidly forward towards the scene of action, on arriving near which, the Colonel commanding was ordered by General Sedgwick, commanding corps, to take his regiment
in our extreme right, and, if possible, turn the enemy's left. The regiment moved
forward immediately in compliance with this order, and when near the thicket was met
by Colonel Brown, commanding brigade, and ordered to move to the left sufficient to
move up in rear of the Third Regiment, which was being sorely pressed; this order was
complied with, relieving the Third, which retired. Soon after this, the gallant Colonel
Brown was wounded in the thigh which obliged him to be carried from the field. He
then turned over the command temporarily to Colonel Penrose, senior officer present
on the field. At this time the enemy heavily reinforced their whole line, the Twentythird, supported by the One Hundred and Twenty-first New York, Bartlett's Brigade,
on the left of the road, were obliged to fall back; the right of the line held its ground
until relieved just at dark, soon after which the action ceased.
"In the withdrawing of the First New Jersey Volunteers they lost their gallant
leader, Colonel M. W. Collett.
" All the regiments behaved with the utmost gallantry, holding their ground against
overwhelming odds, and when retiring, contesting every inch of the same. In this
short fight, of some only two and a half hours duration, the brigade lost heavily in
both officers and men.  The brigade bivouacked for the night on the battle-field,
when Colonel S. L. Buck, of the Second New Jersey Volunteers, assumed the
command.
"During the morning of the 4th inst., the regiments of the brigade were assigned to
various positions in line of battle and supporting batteries, but were not engaged. At
sundown took up line of march for Banks's Ford, on reaching the banks of the river,
occupied the rifle-pits abandoned by the enemy, where we remained till near daylight
on the morning of the 5th inst., when we crossed the river; during this movement
Colonel S. L. Buck met with an accident which unfitted him for duty. The command
was again turned over to Colonel Penrose. After crossing the river, moved down about
two miles, where we went into camp, remained there till the morning of the 7th inst.,
when we changed camp, remained there until the morning of the 8th inst., when we
took up line of march for our present camp, arriving about two and a half p. m. Not
being in command of brigade during action, I am unable to particularize in regard to
regiments or officers, and I respectfully submit the enclosed regimental reports.
"Very respectfully your obedient servant,
"W. H. PENROSE,
"Colonel Fifteenth New Jersey Volunteers."
" HEADQUARTERS FIRST REGIMENT NEW JERSEY VOLUNTEERS, 
May 12th, 1863.
"SIR: I have the honor to report, that on the 28th ult., orders were received by
Colonel Collett, then commanding this regiment, to hold his command in readiness to
move at three p. m., with the brigade. About two p. m., an order was received detail.
ing the regiment to support two batteries of the Reserve Artillery, which were to be
stationed near Grey Farm, about three miles below White Oak Church, on the river,
The regiment accordingly proceeded with the batteries, until ordered by General
Brooks, the division commander, to rejoin the brigade, which it did about two a. m.,
the day following; the division being then near the river below Falmouth, and about to
cross. The crossing was accomplished at daylight, and the regiment remained on the
south bank of the river until sunset, when it was ordered to the front with the brigade
to occupy the picket until the following evening; we were relieved by Bartlett's




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                              103
the 1st of July, General Meade having meanwhile succeeded to the
command, the advance came up with  the enemy  at Gettysburg.
Brigade, and fell back to the second line. We occupied this position until Saturday,
May 2d, when the line of pickets being ordered to advance, the regiment was thrown
out on the extreme right of the line, and engaged the enemy's skirmishers, driving
them back, being relieved after dark by the Thirty-third New York Regiment, and
returning then to its former position.
"On Saturday, the 3d inst., the regiment was under arms at two a. m., and soon after
sunrise, the brigade having been ordered to the front, we advanced some distance
across the plain, taking up a position on the side of the old Richmond road, on the left
of the heights, and in the rear of our batteries, where we remained under fire of the
enemy's artillery until about noon.
" The heights above Fredericksburg having been carried, we now proceeded through
the city, and passing over the heights, advanced along the plank road in the direction
of Chancellorsville. The regiment was at this time in advance of the brigade.
" Having advanced some three miles beyond Fredericksburg, the regiment was formed
in line of battle on the right of the road, the Second Regiment paving been deployed
as skirmishers in our front. The Third Regiment formed on our right, both being
under command of Colonel Collett.
"Advancing in the rear of the skirmishers, the enemy opened upon us with artillery,
being replied to by the batteries in our rear. The regiment advanced under fire from
the enemy's skirmishers, until arriving near Salem Church, our skirmishers retired; we
advanced at a double quick, then the action became general, and we attacked the
enemy, who was strongly posted behind brush fence and entrenchments, in a woods,
on the right and left of the road, from which position destructive musketry fire was
kept up on us. After severe fighting we were relieved, and fell back, having lost one
hundred and five in killed, wounded and missing, besides the loss of our Colonel, M.
W. Collett, who was killed while the regiment was retiring.
"The following day, the regiment remained in support of Battery G, Second United
States Artillery, until evening, when we were ordered to fall back and to follow the
road leading to Banks's Ford, where we crossed the river. The regiment returned to
its old camp, at White Oak Church, on the 8th inst., with the brigade.
"Respectfully, your obedient servant,
"WILLIAM HENRY,. Jr.,
" Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding Regiment.
"JOHN T. WHITEHEAD, A. A. A. G.,
"First Brigade, First Division, Sixth Corps."
"HEADQUARTERS SECOND REGIMENT NEW JERSEY VOLUNTEERS, )
CAMP NEAR WHITE OAK CHURCH, Va., 
May 10th, 1863. 
"JOHN T. WHITEHEAD, A. A. A. G.:
"SIR: The movements of this regiment since breaking camp, April 28th, 1863, are
as follows:
"Broke camp at two p. m. on Tuesday, the 28th ult., marched about three miles in
the direction of the Rappahannock River, and about one mile from Fredericksburg,
when the regiment halted and bivouacked for the night.
"Wednesday, 29th, struck tents about one o'clock a. m., and lay on our arms till
morning; at six o'clock we advanced to and crossed the river in pontoon boats, formed
line of battle on the river bank, remaining in the same position until sundown, when
the regiment went on picket, relieving the One Hundred and Nineteenth Pennsylvania
Volunteers.
"Thursday, 30th, remained on picket until evening, when the regiment was relieved
by the Twenty-Seventh New York Volunteers. We marched to the rifle pits in our
rear and bivouacked for the night.




104               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
The First Brigade, which prior to this movement, had participated
in various apparently aimless marches in Virginia, was at this time
attached to Wright's Division of the Sixth Corps, and consisted of
the First, Second, Third and Fifteenth  Regiments and  Hexamer's
Battery-the Fourth Regiment being detailed for provost duty  in
Washington.  The brigade crossed the Potomac at Edward's Ferry
on the afternoon of June 27th, and marched rapidly  forward  to
Manchester, where it arrived  July 1st.  On the following day, by
"Friday, May 1st, all day and all night in the rifle pits.
"Saturday, 2d, still in the rifle pits.
"Sunday, 3d, regiment under arms at three o'clock a. in. About eight a. n., the
regiment was ordered to the front, and formed on the left of the First New Jersey
Volunteers, where we were under a heavy fire from the enemy's artillery, but met with
no casualties.
"About twelve a. In., six companies of the regiment were ordered to the right, the
other four companies remaining as pickets, under command of Major Close. The six
companies marched by way of Fredericksburg out on the Gordonsville road, where
they deployed as skirmishers on the right and left of the road. Advanced about two
miles, gallantly driving the enemy's skirmishers before them, and making several
charges; discovered and marched to within fifty paces of the enemy's line of battle,
when they took an active part in the engagement, they being in front of our lines of
battle, and picked off a number of the enemy's officers.
"While the battle was raging the other four (4) companies of the regiment, under
Major Close, arrived from the left in time to take an active part in the engagement, and
I mention with pride that they behaved with the greatest bravery, checking the pursuit
of the enemy when the other regiments were compelled to retire. As regards the conduct of the officers and men, I would state that it was all that could be desired. Where
all exhibited such determination and gallantry it would be invidious to particularize,
but private Richard M. Blake, of Company C, deserves special mention for his gallant
and noble conduct in the engagement, and richly deserves to be rewarded. In the
evening the regiment formed on the left of the road, being in excellent condition and
ready for another engagement.
"Casualities during the day: Commissioned officers, killed none; wounded five;
missing none. Enlisted men, killed three; wounded thirty-one; missing seventeen.
Aggregate loss, fifty-six.
"Monday, 4th, remained in the same position until five p. m., when we were ordered
to the left of the Fifteenth New Jersey Volunteers, where we remained until seven
p. m., when we fell back towards the RappahannockRiver. Marched to within threefourths of a mile of Banks' Ford, when the regiment was ordered to the front, as a
reserve to the pickets.
"Lieutenant Whitehead, of Company I, and A. A. A. G. of the First Brigade, received a
slight wound in the wrist.
"Tuesday, 5th, the regiment was withdrawn about two a. m., and crossed the
river at Banks's Ford. Marched about one mile, and bivouacked in the woods.
"Wednesday, 7th, still in same place.
"Thursday, 7th, about three p. m. changed camp; moved about a mile.
"Friday, 8th, ordered to march at seven a. m.; started at eight, and marched back to
our old camp, near White Oak Church-found it occupied by artillery.




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                            105
a forced march of thirty-six miles, it reached Gettysburg, with only
twenty-five men absent, and was at once sent into position on the
left of the line-being drawn up in two lines in reserve. In this
"Ordered to occupy the old camp ground of the Fourth New Jersey Volunteers;
arriving about five p. m.
"Very respectfully your obedient servant,
" CHARLES WIEBECKE,
"Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding Second Regiment,
" New Jersey Volunteers."
"HEADQUARTERS THIRD NEW JERSEY VOLUNTEERS,
May 9th, 1863. 
"CAPTAIN Jomi T. WHITEHEAD, A. A. A. G.
"SIR: Report of the movements of the Third Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers,
attached to the First Brigade, First Division, Sixth Army Corps, Colonel H. W. Brown
Commanding Brigade.
"Broke up camp near White Oak Church, Stafford County, Va., April 28th, at two
and half o'clock, p. m.; at three o'clock, with three hundred and thirty-three (333)
rifles, formed with the brigade and moved towards the Rappahannock River; arrived to
within about three-fourths of a mile of the same at near eight o'clock, and bivouacked
with orders to be ready to move at eleven o'clock. April 29th, at five o'clock, a. m.,
received orders to move forward. Arrived at the river, crossed over in pontoons, and
by seven o'clock were in line on the south bank, where we remained until five o'clock,
p. m. We then moved to the front to relieve part of the first line (a regiment in
Russell's Brigade), and threw out skirmishers.
" April 30th, at six o'clock, p. m., we were relieved by the Ninety-Sixth Pennsylvania
Volunteers, and moved back to line in rear of rifle pits on the banks of the river,
where we remained until Sunday morning, May 3d, when we moved to left of front
line in support of a battery; at eleven o'clock received orders and commenced movement towards Fredericksburg; passed through that town, then moved in a southwesterly direction; having advanced about three miles, fell in with the enemy, formed in
line of battle, advanced about two miles to a piece of woods, where we met them in
considerable force and gave them battle, our engagement lasting about two and onehalf hours, at a loss on our side of ninety-nine killed, wounded and missing, including
four commissioned officers; the Colonel commanding brigade, being close to our colors,
was also severely wounded. Our men fought bravely, and it were useless to attempt
to particularize among the officers, when all seemed determined to excel.
"Having expended all our ammunition, we were ordered to retire; fell back about one -
half mile and bivouacked for the night. Next morning (May 4th), at about seven
o'clock, moved out to left front; remained until sundown, when, by order, we retired
towards Banks's Ford; arriving near there, were ordered to the front in support of the
outer pickets, where we remained until three o'clock, a. m. of May 5th; then retired
over the river, near Banks's Ford, to the north side, about daylight; marched down the
same about two miles, and, by order, bivouacked in a wood. May 7th, received orders
to change camp. At noon, moved out about one-half a mile and bivouacked until next
morning (May 8th), when, by order, took up line of march for White Oak Church,
where we arrived about half-past one o'clock, p. m., and went into camp in and near
old headquarters.
"Very respectfully,
"JAMES W. I. STRICKNEY,
"Major Commanding."
The official reports of the Fifteenth and Twenty-Third Regiments are given in connection with the history of those regiments.
14




10  NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
position it remained until the morning of the 3d, when it was detailed from the corps and advanced to the front centre of the line,
strongly picketing the front-connecting on the right with the
First Corps and on the left with the Fifth. The fighting being
mainly on the right and centre, the brigade did not become engaged
on this decisive day except on the picket line, where it sustained a
loss of eleven men wounded. During both the 3d and 4th, when
the brigade held the same position, the picket line was in charge
of Lieutenant-Colonel Wiebecke, of the Second Regiment, who
displayed throughout the utmost coolness and skill in the difficult command.  On the 5th, the enemy having fled from the field,
the brigade joined in the pursuit, marching several miles in line of
battle, covered by a heavy line of skirmishers. Late in the afternoon, the lagging rear-guard of the enemy was overtaken near
Fairfield, when a sharp skirmish ensued, the rebels being driven in
disorder a distance of two miles, with a loss of two killed and six
prisoners, two of whom were officers-the brigade losing one killed
and two wounded.  From this point the brigade slowly advanced
to the vicinity of I-agerstown, where, on the afternoon of the
11th, it again engaged the enemy, driving in his pickets, losing in
the affair three officers and four men wounded.  On the 14th, the
march was renewed, and on the 19th, the Potomac was crossed at
Berlin, the brigade reaching Warrenton on the 25th, and taking
position on the Sulphur Springs Road.  During all this time the
men suffered uncomplainingly the rigors and severity of the march,
and under all the circumstances in which they were placed displayed the high soldierly qualities foir which the brigade had become
conspicuous.'
The brigade remained in camp near Warrenton until the 15th of
September, when it removed to Culpepper Court House. During
the month of October it participated in the movements along the
Rappahannock, but subsequently again went into camp at Warrens Colonel Torbert, in his official report, says: "Too much praise cannot be given
to officers and men for their patience and endurance on this long and tedious march of
about two hundred and fifty miles. There was by far less straggling than was ever
known in this brigade before."




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                    107
ton, whence it moved to Rappahannock Station, being constantly
in an exposed position but fortunately escaping loss, though sharing, as a part of the corps, in the splendid successes which attended
this demonstration against the enemy. Early in December, the
brigade encamped near Brandy Station, where it remained in winter quarters until late in April. During this time, Major Henry
succeeded to the command of the First Regiment, and Colonel
Torbert being assigned to the colmmand of a cavalry division,
Colonel Brown, of the Third, took charge, temporarily, of the
brigade, to which the Tenth Regiment was added before the grand
advance under Grant.
On the 4th of May, 1864, Grant having fully matured his plans,
set all his columns in motion, moving straight across the Rapidan
into the Wilderness, a broken table-land, covered with a dense under
growth of hazel, with but few clearings, and intersected by numerous cross-roads, generally narrow, and bounded on either side by a
thick growth of low-limbed and scraggy pines, stiff and bristling
chinckapins, and scrub oaks. Grant hoped, if possible, to pass
through the Wilderness without encountering the enemy, and concentrate upon Spottsylvania Court Iouse, thus turning Lee's position on the Rapidan; but the latter, keenly on the alert, though deceived for a moment, soon became aware of our purpose and prepared vigorously to frustrate it.  Crossing the Rapidan without
opposition, the Fifth Corps rested on the night of the 4th five
miles from  Germania Ford, General Sedgwick with the Sixth
Corps resting between Warren and the river.  At this time the
First Jersey Brigade formed part of the First Division of this
corps. On the morning of the 5th, the head of the Fifth Corps
being near Parker's Store, on the Orange and Fredericksburg plank
road, information was received that the enemy were coming up in
force on the Orange Turnpike, and disposition was at once made to
meet the assault, or to attack as might be required.  Sedgwick,
meanwhile, was ordered to move up and support Warren by taking




108           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
position on his right. Soon, the columns of the enemy under Hill
and Ewell struck Warren heavily in front, the battle immediately
becoming general. The battle-field in front of Warren at the time
of assault, may be thus briefly described: In front was a brook,
flowing northeasterly, spanned by a bridge at the turnpike-the
road there rising to a ridge. On the southern slope was a house in
the midst of a lawn and green meadows-beyond which were
wooded hills and cedar thickets. On the right of the turnpike, by
which the enemy advanced, the pines and cedars were thickly set,
while still further to the right a ravine ran through-forming a
ground of broken, irregular surface and almost impenetrable undergrowth.  On either side of this ravine, the lines of Warren
and Ewell were posted for battle. The Sixth Corps, moving into
position, was attacked shortly after noon by Ewell's Corps, and the
First Brigade being in the first line for a time sustained the brunt
of the onset, expending one hundred rounds of ammunition before
the conflict closed, and suffering severely. In this engagement, the
brigade was formed on a ridge on the edge of the woods, the left
resting on Warren, and-the right curving off to the rear, winding
up in a skirmish line. At the time the brigade came up, Warren
had lost two guns, and was hard pressed by the enemy. The position of the Jerseymen was in some respects almost impregnable,
the wilderness in their rear being of the densest description; the
briers in some places being so thick that it was necessary to tramp
them down before the men could pass through. Shortly after three
o'clock, the enemy, who fought with the utmost desperation, was
compelled to give ground, but our advance was again pushed back
on the right, and though a later charge was made by our troops, no
important advantage was gained. During all the operations of the
day, the Jerseymen behaved with the greatest steadiness, Colonel
Brown, of the Third Regiment, being in command. At length,
darkness fell upon the scene. The losses on both sides had been
severe, the fighting had been of the most stubborn character; and
most commanders would have been content merely to act upon the
defensive. But Grant had other plans, and meant, at whatever
cost, to " fight it out on that line." Accordingly, having received




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                    109
the reports of his commanders, he issued orders for a general attack
at five o'clock on the morning of the 6th, each corps to assail whatever force might appear in its front. At this time, the entire
strength of the opposing armies was in close contact, and in one
place so near were the lines that the combatants drew their water
from the same stream.
The enemy, however, did not wait for our assault. Before five
o'clock, Sedgwick was attacked with great vigor, the rebels seeking
to turn his right flank, held by the First Division, including three
regiments of the First Brigade in the centre,'with part of General
Seymour's Provisional Division still nearer the Rapidan.  The
fighting at this part of the line was of the most sanguinary character, and as before, the Jerseymen were exposed to its greatest violence. At one time, seven Louisiana regiments charged through
the woods, pouring a raking fire into the ranks of the division, but
not shaking the line of the brigade, nor indeed, of the division,
although a part of the line of the Second Division, still further to
the right, was broken. Later in the day, the First, Fourth and
Tenth Regiments, lying on the left of Neill's Brigade, were several
times attacked with great ferocity by the rebels, but at nightfall
still held substantially the ground occupied by them in the morning-a heavy assault by the rebel General Gordon just at dusk,
which at first promised to destroy the whole right wing of the
army, being repulsed with heroic gallantry. The losses in killed,
wounded and prisoners were very heavy.  Among the killed of the
two days were Colonel Ryerson, of the Tenth, Captain Henry H.
Callen, of the Second Regiment, and Lieutenant Swan of the First,
-the former falling while leading his company into action. Captain Callen entered the service in June, 1861, as Sergeant, and was
subsequently promoted for gallant behavior. He was taken prisoner during the Peninsular campaign, but was exchanged after a
brief imprisonment.  He was wounded in a subsequent engagement, but soon recovered, and had but just rejoined his command,
after a brief leave of absence, when the forward movement commenced. Among the wounded were Major Way, Captains Warner,
Sitgreaves, Blythe, and several Lieutenants of the First Regiment;




110           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Captain Bogart of the Second; Lieutenant-Colonel Van Syckel of
the Fourth; Captains Vanderveer and Hamilton of the Fifteenth,
with many others. In fact, the brigade was left with only a handful of officers and with terribly decimated ranks, the First Regiment
especially being greatly thinned; but it was as firm and indomitable
on the morrow as when it first marched into the tangled thicket,
where so many of its brave and noble ones gloriously fell. On the
night of the 6th, Colonel Campbell, of the Fifteenth Regiment,
took out the skirmish line of the division, establishing it in a new
position which, before morning, was strongly fortified.
Early on the morning of the 7th, the enemy finding our position
of the day previous abandoned, sent a reconnoitering force towards
the ford, supposing we had retreated, but finding that this was not
the case, he felt cautiously all along our front, the skirmishers
coming in contact shortly after daybreak. Hostilities at once became animated, our artillery opening on the rebel position; but it
was soon found that Lee was abandoning his entrenchments, and
moving down rapidly by his right, on a road parallel to a movement ordered by Grant, in order to give the latter check at Spottsylvania Court House. Desultory fighting continued during the
day, both armies moving forward, but no general infantry engagement was had.  The Fifth Corps, marching by the Brock road,
with the cavalry in advance, and pushing the enemy before him,
arrived on Sunday, the 8th, at Alsop's Farm, where the road crosses
the river Po, and just beyond found the Corps of Longstreet, prepared to dispute the crossing of the river Ny. After some skirmishing, posting his batteries, Warren advanced a division to the
assault, but the column was repulsed, the enemy developing a strong
line of works which it seemed impossible to carry. Later in the
day, the Sixth Corps having come up, the First Brigade was ordered
by Warren, to whom  it had been sent, into a piece of woods,
whence, subsequently, it was ordered to feel of the enemy's position. Accordingly, after some playing at cross-purposes, the Third
and Fifteenth Regiments were advanced, the former, under Captain
Duboise, deployed as skirmishers, and the latter under Colonel
Campbell acting as a support. The enemy, who had not as Warner




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                       111
supposed, abandoned his line, held his fire until the skirmish line
was within fifty yards, when he opened with great vigor. The
Fifteenth, advancing, was met at the same distance by a storm of
bullets, but undismayed, swept up gallantly on a charge. The
rebel position being on the edge of the woods, with a swamp in
front, was naturally strong, but the assailants, dashing through the
swamp, rushed straight up to the earthworks, dashing themselves
against them with headlong fury, and breaking the first line of
battle.  But that was all.  They were no match for the enemy,
posted in an impregnable position.  Within five minutes, one
hundred and one men of the Fifteenth Regiment were stretched
dead or dying upon the ground, and with one solitary prisoner, the
column, exposed to a fire on both flanks, fell back.  Warren, however, did not desist from his purpose with this failure.  Later in the
evening, another column of assault was organized, composed of the
First Division of the Fifth Corps, part of the Second Division of
the Sixth, and the Tenth New Jersey Regiment. At this time, the
enemy was posted, with three lines of battle, across the creek.
Forming to the left of the point first assaulted, the heavier column
moved out bravely, being met by the enemy in advance of his
works.  Pushing on, however, we carried his outer fortified line;
but recovering, the rebels again advanced, and striking the column
in the flank, compelled it to give way in turn, which it did in good
order.  In this movement, we took some two hundred or three
hundred prisoners, but the Tenth Regiment had a large number of
its men captured, including Lieutenant-Colonel Tay and several
other officers.36  After falling back a distance of perhaps one hundred yards, the column halted, and kept up a heavy musketry fire
for some hours. The loss of the brigade during the day was again
severe, one company (D) in the Fifteenth Regiment losing six killed
and eleven wounded.  This regiment, which commenced the campaign with four hundred and twenty-nine muskets, had now been
S6 These prisoners were at once sent to the rear by the enemy, and after being
stripped of their valuables, were sent to Beaver Dam in charge of a guard. Some
days later, just as they were about to take the cars for Richmond, Sheridan's cavalry
appeared upon the scene, and disposing of the guard, relieved the prisoners, who
thereupon proceeded to Butler's lines, and thence returned to their command.




112           NEWA JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
reduced to three hundred and six, and every other regiment had
suffered correspondingly.
On the 9th, Monday, the entire army concentrated about Spottsylvania. Colonel Brown was here relieved of the command of
the brigade by General Meade, and Colonel Penrose assumed command, which he retained until the campaign in the Shenandoah,
some months later. During the 9th, skirmishing was continued,
the Fifth and Sixth Corps pressing the enemy, developing his
position, and seeking for points of attack for the deadly struggle.
The fighting of the First Brigade was mainly on the skirmish line,
where it took some prisoners. During the forenoon of the 9th,
General Meade ordered two regiments to be advanced across a
swamp on the left of the army, with a view of getting possession
of a certain road, which it was deemed important to occupy.
Colonel Campbell was accordingly detached with the First and
Fifteenth Regiments, and, moving across the swamp, pushing the
enemy before him, advanced through the woods beyond it until he
reached a ridge commanding the road in question. Here he remained during the night. [At this time, Hancock had moved up
to the right, Warren held the centre, and the Sixth Corps was on
the left-the wings being thrown forward to envelope the corps of
Hill and Ewell, which had reached the court house, and taken position some distance in front of it. A small creek, a branch of the
Ny River, lay between the position of the enemy and that of
Warren and Sedgwick, and also separated Hancock from Warren.
During the day, General Sedgwick was killed by the bullet of a
sharpshooter, and the command of the corps thereupon devolved
upon General Wright.]  On the morning of the 10th, the Sixth
Corps having extended its skirmish line so as to connect with
Colonel Campbell, the whole line was ordered to advance. Portions of the Second and Fifth Corps promptly assailed the enemy's
works, bringing on a general engagement. Two divisions, moving
across the branch of the Ny which separated them from the enemy,
assaulted his left, but finding it too strong, were obliged to retire,
losing one gun, which could not be extricated from the undergrowth. A second assault had a similar result, but later in the




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                   113
afternoon, Wright's First Division, including those regiments of
the Jersey Brigade not with Colonel Campbell, with the Third
Division made'a charge as a column of assault under Colonel Upton,
which, while one of the most gallant of the war, was also at all
points fully successful.  Heading the advance, the Jerseymen
dashed up with headlong courage to the enemy's works, and leaping over into the midst of the rebels, took over a thousand prisoners, together with several guns-only retiring because they were
so far in advance as to be beyond the reach of support. In withdrawing, the captured artillery was necessarily abandoned, but the
prisoners were brought off. Had the expected supports come up
in time, the position, perilous as it was, would no doubt have been
held, greatly to our advantage; but even as it was, the First Bri,
gade had reason to be proud of its achievement-in all respects
one of the grandest of that terrible series of battles.
Meanwhile, Colonel Campbell, with the two regiments under his
command, had not been idle. Advancing from the position held
on the night of the 9th, he gradually pushed through a ravine up
to a hill beyond, halting on the edge of a strip of woods, with the
enemy in front. Here, two assaults having failed, two regiments
were sent to him by General Mott, whose division had been ordered to take position on his left, when, moving out into an open
field, with the Fifteenth as skirmishers, he again encountered the
enemy in force, but advanced some distance, until, being opened
upon with artillery, and the rebels largely outnumbering his force,
he again came to a halt, holding the position until the afternoon,
when, as we have seen, a series of assaults were delivered. Campbell being ordered to report to General M1ott, participated in the
general attack-on this occasion only fighting with the Second New
Jersey Brigade; advancing over difficult ground against the
enemy.  Some of the troops, however, falling into confusion, the
assault'failed; but Campbell, again deploying a skirmish line, held
the ground, harrassing the enemy without cessation until late in
the evening, when, being left alone, he was ordered to withdraw
and take position with the rest of the brigade, which he did successfully.
15




114            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Wednesday, the 11th, was passed in manoeuvering, reconnoitering and desultory skirmishing. Rain fell during the afternoon,
and under cover of the heavy weather, Hancock was shifted from
his post in front of Hill to a position between the Sixth and Ninth
Corps, with orders to attack early on the morning of the 12th.
Meanwhile, Wright was directed to extend his left, to concentrate
on that wing, and to be in readiness to assault.  Warren and
Burnside were also ordered to make diversionary attacks, with a
view of keeping the enemy engaged at all points of the line. The
morning of the 12th dawned, enveloped in a dense fog. The point
against which our attack was to be directed was a salient angle of
earthworks, held by Johnson's Division of Ewell's Corps-the
same against which Colonel Campbell had operated. Silently the
veterans of the Second moved upon the unsuspecting enemy.
Sweeping over the rugged and densely-wooded space, with a storm
of cheers they rushed up to the rebel works, scaled them in front
and flank, surrounding the forces within, and capturing nearly the
entire division, with its commander, Edward Johnson, and two
brigades of other troops, commanded by General George H. Stuart,
together with thirty guns. Still pushing on, Hancock reached and.
carried the second line of rifle pits.  But now the enemy, recovered from his surprise, made desperate efforts to repossess himself
of the ground he had lost, succeeding at one point of the line, and
soon the battle became general.  The Sixth Corps, with other
troops, was promptly pushed forward; Warren became hotly engaged on the right; and so, for fourteen hours, "a battle raged
over these entrenchments," to use the language of Pollard, "the
intense fury, heroism and horror of which it is impossible to describe."  Here, as on every other field, the First Brigade fought
with the most heroic endurance. Early in the morning, the brigade was massed and moved slowly forward through a pine thicket,
in order to give Hancock time to send back the prisoners he had
captured.  Meanwhile, the enemy was also receiving reinforcements, with fresh supplies of ammunition.  Finally, the brigade
was massed for a charge-the First, Fourth and Fifteenth Regiments in the first line, and four companies of the Second (six being




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                           115
on picket) and Third in the second line-and in this order pushed
forward  through the woods, with muskets at a trail, until within
one hundred yards of the rebel works.  Then, with a cheer, the
men rushed'upon the works, a terrific fire shattering the lines as
they advanced.  Captain Walker, of the Fifteenth, fell dead early
in the action,"7 with other good and true soldiers; but the lines still
surged on, the Fifteenth breaking through the first line of rebel
works, and  advancing gallantly towards the second.  Lieutenant
Justice, a brave and valued officer, was killed beyond the first line
by a rebel crouching in the works, who was in turn bayonetted on
the spot.  In this charge, the regiment lost one hundred and sixtyeight men, leaving only one hundred and one.  Against these, the
enemy at once  hurried up reinforcements, and the gallant little
band was at length compelled to fall back.  Of the thirteen officers
of this regiment who went into the fight, only four were left.
Other regiments of the brigade suffered no less severely; and night
came down with our clutch upon the coveted position unshaken,
indeed, but with thousands of dead and dying attesting the terrible
cost of the victory. On the night cf the 12th, the Sixth Corps
moved towards the right, where it remained during the night.  On
the 13th, it moved again into position before the "bloody  angle,"
holding the ground until after dusk, when it moved to the extreme left of the army.  There was no  serious fighting on this
37 A member (James Mangan) of the regiment gives the following incident of this
engagement:
"Captain Walker fell, pierced with several bullets. About the same time, my right
arm was broken below the elbow, and my shoulder pierced by a bullet that laid me out
in the trench, with nothing but a bank of earth between me and the enemy. I spoke to
the Captain, but he was dead. Close by me lay a comrade whose leg was broken. He
could load his musket, but could not get at his caps. So I capped his gun for him
several times, and whenever a rebel showed his head he fired at him. We thought we
were'gone' anyhow, and so agreed to sell our lives as dearly as possible. And we
kept on in this way until he (my comrade) was killed by a ball through the head."
Mangan was taken prisoner, and subsequently had his arm amputated, after which
he remained for ten days and nights in the woods without any shelter whatever,
exposed most of the time to a pitiless rain. As soon as he was able, he buried his
amputated arm in a grave with a dead soldier, and left it on the bloody field a pledge
of his devotion to the good cause. After various experiences, he was taken to Gordons -
ville, thence to Lynchburg, and finally to Richmond; where, on the 1st of September,
he was exchanged, "getting out once more," in his own words, "under the old
Stars and Stripes, and thanking God that brought him through all alive, with only the
loss of an arm."




116           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
day, but on the 14th, the First Brigade was again engaged.  At
this time, Upton's Brigade, with the Second and Tenth Regiments,
had possession of a house (known as the " Gait House ") across the
Ny River, near the termination of our line of battle-a commanding and important position. The enemy, suddenly developing a
line of battle on our left, burst through the woods, captured some
of our pickets, and, after a brief contest, took the house, driving
off the occupants.  At the' time of the assault, Generals Meade
and Wright were in the building, and barely had time to mount
their horses when the enemy came down like a pack of wolves.
Falling back, fighting with stubborn tenacity, through an orchard
and down the face of the hill, the men temporarily yielded the
position.  Later in the day, the brigade, with the rest of the division, charged up the hill and re-took the house, and held it, at a
loss of but a few men in killed, wounded and missing. Among
the killed was Lieutenant-Colonel Wiebecke, of the Second Regiment, a brave and efficient officer, who went out as a Captain and
rose by merit. After the enemy had been driven into his entrenchments, the body of the dead officer was found lying in an orchard,
stripped naked.
The campaign had now been in progress for eleven days, and in
that time the First Brigade had sustained the following losses:
First Regiment, killed twenty-two, wounded one hundred and fiftyfive, missing fifty-two; Second Regiment, killed nine, wounded
fifty-five, missing twenty-nine; Third Regiment, killed twenty-one,
wounded one hundred and two, missing thirty-three; Fourth Regiment, killed twenty-six, wounded one hundred and twenty-six,
missing forty-two; Tenth Regiment, killed eighteen, wounded
ninety-five, missing thirty-three; Fifteenth Regiment, killed fiftynine, wounded one hundred and thirty-four, missing thirty-four.
No description could give a better conception of the terrible exhaustion and severe losses of the Wilderness campaign than is
afforded by these ghastly figures. Yet, amid all their losses, all
the hardships to which they were exposed, the survivors moved
serenely forward in the path of duty, not covetous, indeed, of
death, but willing calmly to die, if need be, for the flag and the
principles it symbolized to the world.




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                   117
From the 14th until the 18th, the fighting was only desultory.
On the 19th, Lee threw Ewell against our weakened right, but the
assault was repulsed with serious loss to the enemy, and the moveJnent of our army to the left, already commenced, was continued
without further interruption, except an assault on Russell's Division
of the Sixth Corps, on the evening of the 21st: which was handsomely repelled. In this movement, which resulted in the transfer
of our army to a position south of the Pamunkey River, in unobstructed communication with its new base at the White House, the
First Brigade did not engage the enemy except in skirmishing
along the North Anna and Tolopotomy-the principal fighting
being done by other corps than the Sixth. On the 29th of May,
the Second Regiment, its time having expired, left the front and
proceeded to Washington, whence it was ordered to Trenton for
muster out, the whole number of men who returned being three
hundred and fifteen. The First and Third Regiments, having
fought, as we shall see, at Cold Harbor, also left the front on the
3d of June-the two numbering three hundred and forty menand reached the State Capital on the night of the 7th. The men
of these regiments who had re-enlisted, and whose terms had not
expired, were at first transferred to the Fourth and Fifteenth, but
were subsequently consolidated into the First, Second and Third
Battalions, and with the Fourth, Tenth and Fifteenth Regiments,
from that time forward until February, 1865, constituted the First
Brigade-the Fortieth Regiment being added at the latter date.
On the 30th of May, the advance of our army, moving towards
Cold Harbor, was violently attacked by the enemy-the assailants,
however, being repulsed, and our lines pushed forward-Sheridan
on the following day seizing Cold Harbor and holding it until the
Sixth and Eighteenth Corps came up and occupied the position.
Wright. on coming up, immediately proceeded to attack, deploying
his First Division, including the Jersey Brigade, as a skirmish line.
Moving into position in four lines of battle, he charged by echelon
of brigades, the First Brigade being on the left of the turnpike,
and Upton's being on the right. In this assault, the First Regiment
was in the first line of battle, the Third, commanded by Captain




118           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Frank Duboise in the second, the Fifteenth in the third, and the
Tenth in the fourth line.  The first line soon dissolved before the
fire of the enemy, but the Second and Third pressed forward until
opened upon by a battery, when the Fifteenth halted and replied
by musketry, finally silencing the guns and holding the advanced
ground.  The Tenth then came up and took possession of a slight
line of earthworks, the entire line being held during the night, the
enemy in vain making vigorous attacks, and posting batteries
enfilading our position.  On the day following, the main line of
the enemy was again assaulted, but without success. The men,
lying down, threw up during the day a frail defence of earthworks,
using their bayonets to loosen the earth and their cups to scoop it
into the desired position.. On the 3d, when a grand assault was
made along the whole front, the brigade advanced and got possession of a knoll, which they strengthened as rapidly as possible,
clinging to the position with the utmost tenacity. The principal
fighting of the day was in front of the Sixth and Eighteenth Corps,
and though at some points the opposing works were carried, our
troops were afterwards driven out and forced to throw up such defences as were possible.  In all respects, this was one of the most
murderous battles of the war, our total losses amounting to some
thirteen thousand; but in its relations to the general campaign, it
was by no means a failure as some have contended.  The loss of
the First Brigade was principally in the Tenth and Fifteenth Regiments, the' former of which had an unusually large proportion of
its men killed and wounded.  For three days and nights the men
were constantly under fire, and without sleep fought and toiled
with a steadiness and obstinacy which extorted the highest encomiums from all superiors.
During the 4th and 5th, work upon our entrenchments was
continued, but on the 6th, the army commenced to move to the left,
being extended, on the 7th, to the Chickahominy, which was crossed
a.few days after, the whole force marching to the James River.
Here the First Brigade (with its division) was left to guard the
crossing, and the several corps having moved over, it was then put
on transports and carried to Bermuda Hundred, where it was




THE FIRST BRIGAIE.                    119
thrown into position.  Thence it was moved forward to join the
corps at Petersburg, which it did. Two or three days subsequently,
it was ordered to the left of the line, and pushing up some distance,
was engaged for ten days in skirmishing.  In all these operations,
the brigade suffered some losses; but they were inconsiderable
compared with those before experienced. From this time forward
to the middle of July, it was not seriously engaged-a brief period
for rest and re-organization being considerately allowed by the
Commander-in-Chief. (The total loss of the Tenth Regiment up to
June 26th, was forty-two killed, one hundred and forty-three
wounded, and forty-eight missing.)
Meanwhile, in another part of the field, serious trouble was
brewing.  On the 16th of June, General Hunter having, with his
co-operative column, pushed up the Shenandoah, driving the
enemy from Staunton, and at all points destroying the supplies
and communications of the enemy, had invested Lynchburg, the
reduction of which was important to the success of Grant's general
plans.  But Hunter's success, which up to this time had been uninterrupted, here came to a sudden and disastrous pause. Lee, who
could not afford to lose a position so important, rapidly poured
in reinforcements, and on the 18th, Hunter, whose ammunition had
given out, decided to retire, which he did in haste, but by a
mistaken course towards the Kanawha, thus leaving the Shenandoah
Valley open to the enemy for raids across the frontier into the
States of Maryland and Pennsylvania. The rebels were not slow
to avail themselves of the opportunity thus afforded. A considerable force was moved down the valley, with a view of invading
the North, and, possibly, obliging Grant to abandon the siege of
"Petersburg. The latter, realizing the danger, promptly prepared
to meet it. Early in July, the Sixth Corps was withdrawn from its
position in front of Petersburg and sent to cover Washington -one
division under Ricketts going to  Baltimore.  The Nineteenth
Corps, just arrived from the Gulf, was sent after the Sixth. Meanwhile, the rebels, rushing down the valley, had pushed into Mary



120           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
land, sweeping everything before them-on the 8th of July, fighting and defeating General Wallace at Monocacy, and thence moving
on Washington, their advance being encountered near the Capital
on the 12th. But the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps had now arrived,
and Early, apprized of the fact, speedily desisted and withdrew
-Wright pursuing and overtaking the rebel rear-guard at Snicker's
Ferry on the Shenandoah, where a sharp battle ensued, in which
the enemy gained some advantage. In this engagement, the First
Brigade lost several men. Subsequently, one regiment, (the Fifteenth,) was detached on special service to discover a ford, proceeding some five miles, and performing the service acceptably to the
officer in command.
Deceived by advices, that Early was abandoning the valley, General Grant ordered the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps by water to
Petersburg, and they at once proceeded to Washington.  But o'n
the 24th of July, Early, once more concentrating his troops,
attacked the forces of Crook and Averill, and flanking them, drove
them through Winchester and across the Potomac. This compelled
Grant to return the Sixth Corps to Harper's Ferry, whence it advanced to Halltown, remaining there two or three days, and then
being ordered to Frederick, Maryland, whence, however, it soon
after returned. About the same time, two cavalry divisions were
also ordered up from the army of the Potomac, and Hunter's troops
having arrived, a formidable force was soon concentrated. On the
6th of August, General Sheridan was placed in command of the
entire force, and addressing himself to the task before him, at once
pushed out a part of his troops in active demonstrations against
the enemy.  On the 15th, the First Brigade had a sharp skirmish
with the enemy at Strasburg, being at the time engaged on picket
duty between that place and Cedar Creek-Early, then lying at
Fisher's Hill, sending a force through the town to attack our position. After resisting the assault as long as practicable, the brigade
retired towards Winchester, where, on the 17th, it was again engaged, having been placed as a support to Torbert's Cavalry, with
instructions to hold three roads. The enemy at this time was
posted on a hill partly hidden by forests, and largely outnumbered




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                            121
our force; but the Jerseymen, fighting bravely, held the head of
Early's entire army in check for six hours, fighting from dusk until
after nine o'clock, when Early deployed into regular columns of
assault, only to find that three weak regiments had kept his whole
army at bay.38  The brigade, in this engagement, was under command of Colonel Penrose, who with Colonels Tay and Campbell,
Major Boeman and others, displayed the greatest gallantry. The
loss in killed and wounded was ninety-seven, as follows: Fourth
Regiment, two killed, twenty-two wounded; Tenth, sixteen wounded; Fifteenth, six killed, fifty-one wounded. The Tenth lost
heavily in prisoners, being left on the field after the rest of the brigade had withdrawn, and so surrounded and exposed to capture in
mass. The Third Cavalry also suffered severely.
On the 20th, our army retired to the immediate front of Charlestown, where, on the  day  following, Early  coming  up, made a
serious attack. At this time, we had only a slender picket line in
front, and being struck heavily by the enemy, it was badly shattered.  Colonel Campbell, however, being sent out to look after
affairs, succeeded in promptly getting reinforcements into position,
and soon recovered the ground we had lost, re-occupying with his
men the outpost position. On the night of the 21st, Sheridan desiring to lure Early forward, our army fell back to Halltown, where
38 i Our brigade of nine hundred men, and one regiment of cavalry, the Third New
Jersey, sustained the shock of an overwhelming force, estimated at five thousand.
The enemy attacked with three lines of battle. Our men were deployed as skirmishers,
fifteen feet apart. They would lie down behind a wall, waiting the enemy's approach,
and fire to check him as much as possible. Then, at the order to retire, they would
run to the next place of shelter, whether stone wall, hill or trees, and wait the rebel
approach again, give them some deadly volleys, and again retire. This mode of fighting was kept up till Winchester was reached and passed. While passing through the
town, many of our men were shot down by the citizens, who fired from the windows of
the houses. In the darkness it was impossible always to tell friend from foe. Once
Colonel Campbell found himself in the midst of a number of men pressing rapidly forward, or, as he supposed, hurrying away to the rear. He was on the point of halting
them and calling them to rally at a point in a little graveyard, when an outcry from
one of them proved they were rebels. Turning an angle in the wall, where he could
be shielded from their fire, he left them in haste. A soldier came among our men and
they demanded "Who are you?" to which he answered "I belong to Breckinridge's
Division." They said, "Lay down your arms," but the fellow cried "I am a Reb."
"Very well," said our boys, "but we are Yanks;" and through all the confusion of
the night some held fast to him, and in the morning delivered him up a prisoner of
war." —Chaplain Haines' Notes.
16




122           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
it entrenched.  (While here the brigade received a number of
recruits.)  Early promptly moved down, and some skirmishing
was had on the left of the line; he soon after, however, retired,
and our troops advanced to the vicinity of Berryville, where they
remained until Sheridan was ready to strike.
On the 19th of September, after some preliminary operations,
looking to the development of the enemy's position, Sheridan
proceeded to attack.  The Sixth and Nineteenth Corps marching
down a narrow ravine, winding among steep and thickly-wooded
hills, debouched into an irregular valley, faced on the south by an
amphitheater of stony heights. Sheridan's object was to amuse
the enemy's right, attack his center vigorously, turn and force his
left. The head of the Sixth Corps emerged from the ravine about
ten o'clock, and speedily became engaged.  The First Brigade,
which was commanded by Colonel Campbell, after marching several
miles, was advanced to the crest of a hill within easy range of the
rebel batteries, where, exposed to a steady fire of shot and shell,
it remained for some time. Presently, however, it was ordered to
advance to an assault of the rebel position, and promptly at the
word it moved forward-the fire of the enemy still continuing with
undiminished fury. At this time the brigade was in the second
line of battle, and unfortunately the first line, some seventy-five
yards in advance, became confused and began to retreat.  This
made the situation a very critical one, and serious disaster seemed
to be imminent. At the moment, Colonel Campbell was absent,
having led the Fifteenth Regiment to reinforce another part of the
line, leaving Major Boeman temporarily in command of the Fourth
and Tenth. The latter, perceiving the crisis, promptly ordered his
men to fix bayonets and sternly check the retreat of the first line.
The order was obeyed as promptly as it was given. Then rushing
forward, the commandant called upon the first line to halt and
renew their advance. Seconded by their officers, his appeal was
successful, and the Fourth and Tenth Regiments at that time
advancing the first line joined them, and the whole pressing forward, swept up the opposite hill and forced the rebel line a considerable distance, obtaining permanent possession of the hill, and




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                          123
holding it, though constantly exposed to a fire which inflicted
severe loss. Our general line of battle was now everywhere gaining ground, and the enemy gradually falling back.39 Later in the
day, the cavalry on the extreme right made a splendid charge,
when the whole army advanced from one end of the line to the other,
and almost instantly put the enemy to rout. In this movement,
the First Brigade, with other portions of the corps, made a direct
assault upon the rebel front, while another corps took their army
on the left flank, and still further, the cavalry under Torbert,
sweeping round with a sickle-shaped line, attacked the rebel rear,
capturing a battery before it could be fired, with many battle-flags
and prisoners, and sending the enemy, in a disorganized mass,
" whirling through Winchester" up the valley of the Shenandoah.
The day was gloriously won, and no troops had contributed more
largely to the grand success than the gallant First Brigade. The
loss of the Tenth Regiment in this battle was one killed, thirteen
wounded, and one missing; in the Fifteenth Regiment the loss was
four  killed, forty-one wounded, and  twenty-two  missing;  the
Fourth  Regiment had two  killed, eighteen wounded, and  one
missing.
Falling back rapidly, Early took position at Fisher's Hill, twentytwo miles south of Winchester. Sheridan followed sharply, and on
the 22d again delivered battle. Advancing the Sixth Corps against
the front, and the Nineteenth on the left of the rebel stronghold,
he again sent the Eighth by a long circuit around on the right,
striking heavily in flank and rear, while a vigorous attack in front
broke the enemy's center. The victory here was even more decisive, as well as far more cheaply purchased, than that achieved at
the Opequan.  We took over one thousand prisoners, sixteen guns,
39,i At five p. m., a general advance was made. Both flanks were formed of cavalry.
Previous to the charge, Sheridan rode along the whole front, speaking familiarly with
the men, and telling what he expected to do. He roused the men to the greatest enthusiasm, and made them certain of victory. It was a beautiful sight when the charging
army, four miles from wing to wing, moved over the plain.  The spectacle, which
roused us to confidence, struck terror to the hearts of the enemy; offering but a slight
resistance, they began falling back at the first onset, and when the cavalry were seen
to capture the works on the right, the withdrawal of Early's troops became a flight,
and the advance of Sheridan a hot pursuit."-C(haplain IHaines' Notes.




124            NEW  JERSEY AND  IIE REBELLION.
and other valuable trophies. In this engagement the First Brigade
displayed its usual gallantry. Some of the Tenth Regiment were
foremost in entering the rebel works; one man capturing the Captain of three hundred sharpshooters, posted in support of a rebel
battery, shooting down the rebel flag-bearer, and then,. without
stopping to capture the flag, pushing on to take another gun.40
Another private named Beach, a member of the Fourth Regiment,
compelled a rebel Lieutenant-Colonel to surrender his sword; and
there were other instances of daring, no less noteworthy. The
pursuit of the enemy from this point was characterized by all the
energy and celerity for which Sheridan was distinguished. Pushing
down through New  Market, Harrisonburg and other points, to
Staunton, beating and dispersing the enemy at all points, he commenced, October 6th, a retrograde movement down the valley. In
this movement, he was followed by a large body of rebel cavalry,
under a new leader, who, becoming annoying, were attacked on
the 9th, at Strasburg by Torbert, and soundly beaten, with a loss
of many guns, wagons and prisoners. The retreat was no further
molested, but having halted near Fisher's Hill, Early attempted to
steal upon us unawares, but found us ready, and, after a short
struggle, the enemy drew off, badly worsted-our army taken position behind Cedar Creek. The total loss of the brigade in this
series of operations was about one hundred and fifty men-eightyeight being wounded, nine killed, and the remainder missing.
But beatenr as he had been, Early determined upon cne more
effort to redeem his battered reputation, and, on the 18th of October,
undertook one of the most daring operations of the war. With
his force well in hand, he rapidly crossed the mountains which
separate the forks of the river, forded the North Fork, came upon
our left flank, which was not properly protected; crept along the
front of Crook's Corps, and, favored by darkness and fog, came
40 " One battery was captured by our brigade, who carried the work which contained
it, but the guns were dragged off by troops who came up when the fighting was over.
We were marching most of the night, the men in fine spirits and regardless of fatigue,
capturing prisoners till morning.  Captain Cornish commanded the Fifteenth Regiment on this occasion, and acquitted himself with honor, and without the loss of a
man."-Chaplain Haines' Notes.




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                     125
into position unobserved, so that just before dawn of the 19th, his
men were lying in battle order not six hundred yards distant from
our unsuspecting lines. Sheridan at this time was absent, and
Early was not ignorant of the fact. The rebels also believed that
the Sixth Corps had been withdrawn from  the valley and sent to
Grant.  Their real advantages were great, while their supposed
advantages strengthened their morale.  At length, when fairly in
position, they sprang forward with a startling yell, poured upon
our sleeping troops, seized batteries which they turned upon us,
enfilading our lines, and rolled back our left. Staggered and
stunned, our men soon began to retreat, and, for a time, Early's
star was everywhere in the ascendant. But presently Sheridan,
lured by the ominous rumble of artillery, dashed upon the scene,
encountering as he came up the ebbingtide. In an instant he comprehended the situation, and acted upon the suggestions of the
scene. Rallying the stragglers, consulting with his officers, cheering
and encouraging all by promises of victory, he brought order out
of chaos-not, indeed, in a moment or in an hour, but effectually
and completely. Arranging and strengthening his lines while the
enemy had paused to plunder our camps, he was just in readiness
to move forward, when the rebels came to a new and overwhelming
assault.  Resisting this manfully, he caught its surge and hurled it
back; then, assuming the offensive, attacked again in two columns,
employing his cavalry in vigorous charges on both flanks, succeeding,
with one division, in turning and rolling up their left, and again
routing them at all points of the line, with a serious loss of men
and material, including the guns and camps taken from us in the
morning.
In this magnificent battle, the First Jersey Brigade added fresh
laurels to those already achieved. When the army was surprised
by Early's assault, it was lying on the right. Ordered to the left,
it formed its line in the face of the rebel fire in rear of the position
lost, fighting steadily to maintain its ground, but being finally
overwhelmed and forced to retire.4  Here fell Major Lambert
41 "Bewildered and disordered by the sudden assault, the troops yet gained their composure very quickly, after being pushed back some distance from their camps. Major




126              NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
Boeman, of the Fifteenth, a brave and worthy officer, who, on
many other fields, had displayed conspicuous gallantry. Major
Boeman was a native of Hunterdon County, of a highly respected
family, and was universally esteemed, possessing all the highest
traits of manly Christian character. In the final charge, after the
re-formation of the line, the brigade suffered severely, its entire
losses during the day being seventeen killed, one hundred  and
twenty-eight  wounded,  and  nineteen  missing.42    Among  the
wounded were Colonels Penrose and Campbell, and other officers;
indeed, not a field officer was left.
On the first of December, the Sixth Corps rejoined the army
of the Potomac, and settled down for the winter before Petersburg.
Two expeditions to Hatcher's Run were participated in by the men
of the First Brigade, but nothing of special moment occurred until
the 1st of April, 1865, when  a fierce cannonading was opened
along the entire line at night, and at ten o'clock, p. m., the command moved out of camp and marched to Fort Fisher.  On the
morning of April 2d, the Sixth Corps assaulted, sweeping everything  before them.  Turning  to  the left the  brigade  marched
within  the  captured  works a considerable  distance,  capturing
prisoners and artillery, and, having met the Twenty-fourth Corps,
which had also broken through, advanced in an opposite direction
along the Boydton plank road to within a mile of Petersburg.
Our troops were eager to enter the town at once, but were restrained from the useless risk.  The casualties were comparatively
few.   Night  settled  upon  the  camp  with  all in  the highest
Boeman was almost instantly killed by a bullet that struck him in the lower part of
the breast. Colonel Penrose sought to bring back the brigade to the top of a hill, and
had his horse shot under him. He attempted to lead them on foot, when abullet shattered his right arm. He went to the rear, and Colonel Campbell took command of the
brigade. The men quickly formed on the hill, and behaved most gallantly. Though
pressed by superior numbers, in the main, they held their ground. At one time, a
battery near them was assailed, and two guns captured, a rebel regiment planting their
flag over one of the pieces. The Colonel directed the men to cease firing, and for a
moment there was a lull on our side. Then we charged, regained the ground lost, and
drove the enemy far enough to allow the artillery men to drag away their pieces and
capture the rebel colors."-Chaplain ~aines' Notes.
42 Fourth Regiment, killed 1; wounded 29; missing 4. Tenth Regiment, killed 3;
wounded42; missing none. Fifteenth Regiment, killed 13; wounded 57; missing 15;
Total, killed 17; wounded 128; missing 19.




THE FIRST BRIGADE.                    127
spirits, but while our troops rested, the rebels were active in
evacuating Petersburg and Richmond, and when the morning
dawned, were some fifteen miles away to the westward. Petersburg was evacuated, but not yet were the Jerseymen permitted to
enter it. With something of disappointment, the column was
headed, on the morning of the 3d of April, in the opposite direction, and following the Cox road passed Sutherland Station.
There was something exciting in this pursuit, but it ended at last,
on the 9th, by the surrender of Lee and his army at Appomattox
Court House. The First Brigade was not. far from  the place,
when it was halted, and at three p. m., the announcement was
made-being received with demonstrations of the wildest enthusiasm all along the lines.
The fighting was ended, our cause victorious, and now  all
looked eagerly for a speedy discharge.  But long and weary
marches were still before the brigade, it being sent to Danville
instead of Washington.  Not until the 24th of May did it march
through Richmond on its way northward. On the 2d of June, it
went into camp four miles from Georgetown, District of Columbia.
In a short time, being mustered out, the regiments proceeded to
Trenton, where, all formalities having been had, they were dissolved, and the First New Jersey Brigade ceased to exist.
But the memory of this scarred and storied command still
remains. On a score of fields, it had exhibited the rarest heroism.
In discipline, in sturdy, faultless courage, in unwavering and sublime devotion, it justified, down to the latest field, the high
expectations of that knightly soldier who made it what it was.
Tried in many a fierce and pitiless fire, it had never faltered.
Exposed, sometimes, to peculiar hardships, thinned by disease,
weakened by heavy loss, it never for an hour lost its faith in the
Cause. The hospital devoured and the trench swallowed up many
of its bravest and best, but the First Brigade, even when but a
remnant of its strength remained, was still undaunted. No danger
appalled, no privation dismayed, no losses disheartened the veterans
who with a lofty pride fought and died for Freedom's sake. When
at last with torn standards and lean ranks, it marched from the




128           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
field where it had helped to achieve an honorable peace, it was
welcomed home with right royal greeting; the people hailing it
with glad acclaim, and with it rejoicing that the sound of war had
ceased from the land. To-day, scattered in all the walks of life,
those of its members who yet survive, perform the old duties and
bear the old burdens, familiar before they ever marched a-field; but
their proudest boast is that once they fought with Kearney and the
grand old Army of the Potomac, for the flag which to him and
to them was dearer than all things else.




CHAPTER VI.
THE SECOND BRIGADE.
The Fifth, Sixth, Seventh  and Eighth  Regiments, as we have
already seen, were raised under a requisition made by President
Lincoln on the 24th of July, 1861, and reported  at Washington
during the months of August, September and October of that year,
going into camp at Meridian Hill.'  Early in December, the regiThe regiments of the brigade were officered as follows:
FIFTH REGIMENT.-Colonel, Samuel H. Starr; Lieutenant-Colonel, Gershom Mott;
Major, William S. Truex; Adjutant, Caldwell K. Hall; Surgeon, James C. Fisher;
Assistant Surgeon, Addison W. Woodhull; Quartermaster, James F. Rusling; Chaplain, Thomas Sovereign. Company A-Captain, Ashbel W. Angel; First Lieutenant,
Charles A. Angel; Second Lieutenant, Theodore P. Large. Company B-Captain,
John Ramsey; First Lieutenant, Edward Kelly; Second Lieutenant, Virgil M. Healey.
Company C-Captain, William J. Sewell; First Lieutenant, George S. Russell; Second
Lieutenant, William H. Hill. Company D-Captain, Hiram Cook; First Lieutenant,
James R. Sandford; Second Lieutenant, John L. Pierson.  Company  — Captain,
Robert S. Gould; First Lieutenant, DeKlyn Lalor; Second Lieutenant, Henry H.
Woolsey. Company F-Captain, Roswell S. Reynolds; First Lieutenant, Edward A.
Acton; Second Lieutenant, Thomas C. Godfrey. Company G-Captain, Edward C.
Hopper; First Lieutenant, John Gamble; Second Lieutenant, Simon P. Whitty.
Company _ —Captain, John J. Cladek; First Lieutenant, William C. Berry; Second
Lieutenant, John H. Moore. Company I-Captain, Guy Bryan; First Lieutenant, T.
W. Eayre; Second Lieutenant, W. H. Champion.  Company K-Captain, Vincent W.
Mount; First Lieutenant, John T. Cottrell; Second Lieutenant, Theodore Young.
This regiment left Camp Olden on the 29th of August, and reached Washington and
reported for duty on the 30th of that month.
SIXTH REGIMENT.-Colonel, James T. Hatfield; Lieutenant-Colonel, Simpson R.
Stroud; Major, John P. Van Leer; Adjutant, Leonard J. Gordon; Quartermaster,
Joseph Woodward; Surgeon, John Wiley; Assistant Surgeon, Redford Sharpe; Chaplain, Samuel T. Moore. Company A-Captain, Stephen R. Gilkyson; First Lieutenant,;  Second Lieutenant, Charles C. McMichael.  Company B-Captain,
Charles Ewing; First Lieutenant, William  C. McCall; Second Lieutenant, Aaron
Wilks. Company C-Captain, James Hughes; First Lieutenant, Jacob J. Van Riper;
Second Lieutenant, John Howeth. Company D-Captain, George E. Wilson; First
Lieutenant, John Willian; Second Lieutenant, William H. Kinly.  Company XCaptain, Edward G. Jackson; First Lieutenant, William H. Hemsing; Second Lieutenant, Frederick Homer. Company F-Captain, George C. Burling; First Lieutenant,
Joseph Hays; Second Lieutenant, William F. Wilson. Company G —Captain, Theodore W. Baker; First Lieutenant, Louis M. Morris; Second Lieutenant, John K.
Brown. Company H —Captain, James Bird; First Lieutenant, Samuel G. Stockton;
17




380               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
ments were ordered to report, under Colonel Starr, the senior officer,
to General Hooker near Budd's Ferry, Maryland, some forty-five
miles from Washington, being there brigaded and known as the Third
Brigade, Hooker's Division, afterwards as the Third Brigade, Second
Division, Third  Corps.  Here  the  brigade  remained  for several
Second Lieutenant, Jonas T. Hull.  Company I —Captain, Richard H. Lee; First
Lieutenant, Thomas M. K. Lee; Second Lieutenant, Theodore F. Fields. Company
K-Captain, Timothy C. Moore; First Lieutenant, Thomas Goodman; SecondLieutenant, Benjamin D. Colcy.
This regiment left Camp Olden on the 10th of September, and arrived in Washington
and reported for duty on the 11th.
SEVENTH REGIMENT.-Colonel, Joseph W. Revere; Lieutenant-Colonel, Ezra A.
Carman; Major, J. Dallas Mcintosh; Adjutant, Francis Price, Jr.; Quartermaster,
Thomas P. Johnston; Surgeon, D. W. C. Hough; Assistant Surgeon, Alvin Satterthwaite; Chaplain, Julius D. Rose. Company A-Captain, Louis R. Francine; First
Lieutenant, Thomas C. Thompson; Second Lieutenant, Michael G. Bauer. Compciny
B-Captain, John Craven; First Lieutenant, William N. Fitzgerald; Second Lieutenant,
Gardner E. Greene. Company C-Captain, Henry C. Bartlett; First Lieutenant, Warren McChesney; Second Lieutenant, William J. Harrison. Company lD-Captain, John
J. Fritschy; First Lieutenant, August Mueller; Second Lieutenant, Henry Newhouse.
Company F-Captain, Henry C. Cooper; First Lieutenant, Joseph Abbott, Jr.; Second
Lieutenant, Daniel Hart. Company F-Captain, Frederick Cooper; First Lieutenant,
Alpheus Wetherell; Second Lieutenant, Adolphus Charzottc. Company G-Captain,
James McKiernan; First Lieutenant, Thomas R. Agnew; Second Lieutenant, William
Evans. Co7mpany I —Captain, John M. Clark; First Lieutenant, Francis M. Duboise;
Second Lieutenant, Joseph H. Johnson; Company I-Captain, Lindsey D. Simmes;
First Lieutenant, Daniel R. Burrell; Second Lieutenant, Henry A. Coursin. Comnpany
h —Captain, James M. Brown; First Lieutenant, William R. Hillyer; Second Lieutenant, Michael Mullery.
Seven companies of this regiment left Camp Olden September 19th; the remaining
three companies left October 3d for Washington.
EIGHTII REGIMENT.-Colonel, Adolphus J. Johnson; Lieutenant-Colonel, Thomas
L. Martin; Major, Joseph Trawin; Adjutant, Charles W. Johnson; Quartermaster,
Ralph Jefferson; Surgeon, Alexander J. McKelway; Assistant Surgeon, H. Genet Taylor; Chaplain, A. St. John Chambrc. Company A-Captain, Peter M. Ryerson; First
Lieutenant, Abraham M. Freeland; Second Lieutenant, William J. Roberts. Conpany ]
-Captain, William A. Henry; First Lieutenant, Andrew S. Davis; Second Lieutenant,
John A. Brice. Comnpany C-Captain, John Tuite; First Lieutenant, Oliver S. Johnson; Second Lieutenant, Charles W. Kennedy. Comnpany J)-Captain, William Ward;
First Lieutenant, John D. Buckley; Second Lieutenant, John B. Sine. Comn2pany FCaptain, William S. Tipson; First Lieutenant, James Long; Second Lieutenant, William Lackey. Com2pany'-Captain, James B. Baird; First Lieutenant, William A.
Jackson; Second Lieutenant, Andrew F. Fuller. Company G-Captain, John H. Arey;
First Lieutenant, William G. Cunningham; Second Lieutenant, David B. Ward.  Company I —Captain, George Hoffman; First Lieutenant, Andrew J. Mutchler; Second
Lieutenant, Frederick Longer. Company I-Captain, David Pierson; First Lieutenant, George M. Stellc; Second Lieutenant, Daniel Blauvelt, Jr. Company FK-Captain, John G. Langston; First Lieutenant, William Todd; Second Lieutenant, James
M. Simonson.
To this regiment was attached a battery of six pieces, commanded by Captain John
E. Beam. This regiment left Camp Olden on the 1st day of October, and arrived in
Washington and reported for duty on the 2d.




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                    131
months, occupying the time in drill and in other duties incident to
camp-life, General Hooker laboring with unceasing fidelity and
zeal to promote its efficiency and prepare it for active campaigning.
The winter was not marked by any extraordinary incidents, but
the early spring saw the troops eager and ready for actual service.
The first affair of importance in which the brigade was engaged,
occurred on the 10th of March, 1862. During the winter the
rebels had erected formidable batteries at Cockpit, Shipping and
other Points, on the opposite side of the Potomac, by means of
which they had effectually blockaded that important water approach
to the Capital.  They had also concentrated at Cockpit Point a
considerable number of troops, as a support to the batteries in case
of a land attack, and the position was generally one of much
importance to them. When, however, Beauregard determined to
withdraw from  Manassas, it became unnecessary to hold these
batteries longer, and accordingly, on the 9th of March, they were
abandoned, the enemy destroying a portion of his guns and so
much of his stores as could not be conveniently removed. Acting
with his usual promptitude, General Hooker determined at once to
occupy the abandoned position, and in obedience to his orders,
Lieutenant-Colonel Mott, on the 10th, crossed the Potomac with a
detail of five hundred men of the Fifth Regiment, and seized the
deserted works, capturing four guns, together with a large quantity
of shells, grape and canister and round shot, and other material of
war. Three of the captured guns were loaded and spiked, and the
other bursted and rendered worthless.  Lieutenant-Colonel Mott
promptly destroyed the remaining batteries, together with all other
property not available for our use, and returned to his camp without
any accident whatever-having been completely successful at all
points in his untertaking.  The enemy had evidently left the
position in great haste, leaving behind a large quantity of fresh
beef, and other property, as well as the war material destroyed by
our troops. The evacuation had, undoubtedly, been, hastened by
the advance of General Kearney towards Manassas, as detailed in
the history of the First Brigade.
During the month of April, General McClellan having determined




132           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
his plans for an offensive movement, the brigade was transferred
(with its division) to the Peninsula, General F. E. Patterson being
placed in command shortly after its arrival. On the night of the
3d of May, Yorktown was evacuated by the enemy, and on the
following morning, the army was promptly ordered forward in pursuit, Stoneman leading the advance with four regiments and a
squadron of cavalry. About noon, Hooker's Division advanced on
the Yorktown road to Williamsburg, where the enemy was expected to make a stand, having a strong fort in front of that place,
at the junction of several roads, which commanded, with some
thirteen connecting works, all the roads leading further up the
Peninsula. The Jersey Brigade, leaving Yorktown at two o'clock,
pushed forward with all possible rapidity until eleven o'clock, when
it bivouacked in a swamp some five miles from Williamsburg.
The night was intensely dark and rainy, the roads were muddy and
difficult, and the men were sorely exhausted by labor in the trenches
and want of sleep; but notwithstanding all obstacles and discouragements the troops pressed eagerly forward, all anxious to participate in the struggle which was felt to be imminent.  At two o'clock
on the morning of the 5th, the brigade, being in the advance, resumed its march, and three hours after, emerging from a forest, came
in sight of the enemy's works. The position of the enemy, as described in General Hooker's report, was one of great strength.
The main work, Fort Magruder, occupied the centre, at the junction
of the Yorktown and Hampton roads, with a cordon of redoubts
on either side, extending as far as the eye could reach. For a distance of half a mile in front of these works, the forest had been
felled to obstruct the advance of our infantry, while a belt of clear
open land, six hundred or seven hundred yards in width, dotted all
over with rifle-pits, stretched between the tangled abattis and the
fort and redoubts. In the immediate front of the redoubts, the
plain was furrowed by winding ravines, which were swept by
the guns of -the enemy. After a careful survey of the position'
Hooker decided to attack at once, and at half-past seven o'clock,
advanced his skirmishers on both sides of the road by which he
had come up, at the same time throwing forward two batteries on




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                    133
the right, and sending in the Fifth New Jersey as their support.
Almost simultaneously, the remaining regiments of the brigade
-Sixth, Seventh and Eighth-were sent into the left of the road,
occupying a wood in front of a line of field-works.  At this time
the rain was falling in torrents, and the men stood half leg deep in
mire and water. Steadily advancing through the underbrush, the
gallant regiments soon came upon the enemy's forces, and at once
opened a vigorous fire. Here, for three hours, the conflict raged
with desperate fury. Commanding the ground at every point, the
fire of the enemy was pitilessly destructive, and did not slacken for
a moment. But the brave fellows into whose faces it was poured,
stood firmly and unflinchingly,-sometimes, indeed, pushed back a
little space, but as surely hurling the rebels, bleeding and shattered, back to their works. From the nature of the ground, there
was no opportunity for the bayonet; but the rapid volleys of our
heroic troops were scarcely less effective. And thus the battle
raged, the enemy reinforced again and again, directing against these
three regiments all the fury of their attack; but still for hours the
little column stood immovable. At last, however, the enemy,
driven now to desperation, rushed forward in overwhelming numbers, pouring a terrific fire into our whole line. Then, at last, that
brave line wavered. Their ammunition exhausted, their muskets
rusted by the drenching rain, their ranks terribly thinned, exhausted
by want of food and a difficult march, these heroes of the day,
before this last overwhelmning onset, fell slowly back.  But they
were not defeated.  They had held the enemy in check, had frustrated every attempt to flank our position, and so had saved the
division, which, but for this stubborn resistance, would have been
swept in disaster from the field.
Meanwhile, the Fifth Regiment, supporting the batteries on the
right of the road, had bravely maintained the reputation of the brigade. For six hours it had been exposed to the fire of the fort in
front and that of an earthwork on the flank, and later in the day,
our cannoneers being driven from their guns, charged forward and
at once engaged the enemy, continuing its fire without cessation
for four hours longer. During the whole of this time, officers and




134               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
men alike fought with the utmost courage, and achieved the very
highest place in the confidence of all who witnessed their gallantry.
But with all the desperate fighting of Hooker's Division, the day
was not yet ours. Pitted against it was nearly the whole of the
rebel army, and though it had fought as bravely as any command
of which we have record, it could not accomplish the impossible.
But soon, Kearney, pushing impetuously forward with his division,
hurled himself against the foe. Other commands came up, the
fight redoubled in intensity and vigor, and a part of the rebel
works being carried, the victory was soon ours-the enemy retreating under cover of the night, leaving their dead and wounded on
the field. But the victory was dearly purchased. Hooker alone
had lost nearly one thousand six hundred men, and of these over
five hundred were in the New Jersey Brigade. Among the killed
were Lieutenant-Colonel John  P. Van Lear and Adjutant Aaron
Wilks, of the Sixth, Major Ryerson,2 of the Eighth  and others;
2 The following sketch of Major Ryerson, prepared by Mr. A. Q. Keasbey, and published in the Newark Mlereury, is at once just and appreciative:
"New Jersey has lost one of her worthiest citizens and bravest soldiers in Major
Peter M. Ryerson, of the Eighth Regiment, killed in the late battle at Williamsburg.
" The training of his whole life had fitted him for the gallant part he was to act in the
service of his country. The qualities which marked him as a citizen were such as
always make the soldier faithful and brave. He was born at Pompton, on the 20th of
June, 1798. He inherited from his father a large property, and early came into possession of the extensive iron works at that place. He built the rolling mills and works
at Pompton and at Winockie, and conducted the business on an extensive scale. He
was a large stockholder and a director in the Morris Canal Company, and for several
years was superintendent of the works of the company in that region.  Soon
after he had completed the iron works, and was prepared to reap the reward of
his vast outlay and exertions, the reduction of the tariff embarrassed his operations,
financial difficulties ensued, beneath which he struggled with the most untiring energy
for many years, until at last, in the fall of 1859, he was forced to abandon the unequal
contest, and giving up to his creditors the home of his ancestors, where he had passed
so many years of toil and anxiety, he removed to Newark with his family. But his
was not a spirit that could brook a life of idleness, even at sixty-thiee, if any field of
honorable labor opened to him; and such a field was opened in the war for the Union,
and he entered upon it with all the zeal and vigor of his early manhood.  He had
always been a commander. With thousands of acres as his domain, and hundreds of
men under his control, he had always shown those qualities that are sure to distinguish
the soldier. And now his old energy awoke at the call of his country. He went up to
the beautiful hills of his old home, and called upon his former retainers to join him or
to send their sons to act again under his command. He formed Company A, of the
Eighth Regiment, chiefly from these sturdy forgemen and axemen of his native place.
He was the senior captain of the regiment, and was afterwards promoted to be Major,
which position he held at his death.




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                               135
while among the wounded were a large number of officers, including
Lieutenant-Colonel Carman, of the Seventh, and Colonel Johnson
of the Eighth.  Major Ryerson was killed while in command of
his regiment, being pierced by three balls.3
" He delighted in his military duties. He seemed as erect and vigorous as at any
period of his life. Tall and athletic, of a fine soldierly appearance and bearing, prompt
in word and act, attentive to all the requirements of his position-he had gained the
reputation of a thorough and faithful soldier before he went upon his first battle-field,
from which he was never to return.
"Upon that field he met his death as he would have chosen to meet it. His regiment
was sorely pressed by superior numbers on the left of the bloody field of Monday.
At one o'clock, Colonel Johnson was severely wounded and the command of the
regiment devolved on Major Rycrson. Their ammunition was exhausted and they were
slowly falling back before the greater force of the enemy seeking to turn their flank.
The fate of the day, and perhaps of the army, depended on their firmness. Major
Ryerson, with his old habit of command, rallied them to the charge. Again they
wavered, having nothing to fight with, and again and again he rallied them, standing
in advance, a too conspicuous mark for the foe. At two o'clock, he was struck by a
bullet in the side as he was cheering on his men. Lieutenant Sines came to him and
led him  to a tree. He felt that the wound was fatal, he saw that the enemy were
approaching in overwhelming force, and calmly begged Lieutenant Sines to leave him,
and not uselessly sacrifice his own life.
"Brief interval remained for the last thoughts of the dying soldier-but enough for
the Christian Patriot. The hosts of the enemy came rushing over him,'So underneath the belly of their steeds
That stained their fetlocks in his smoking blood,
The noble gentleman gave up the ghost.'
"New Jersey will honor his familiar name as that of the first of her field officers who
fell in the war for the Union."
There was no question in any mind after that bloody day, as to whether New Jersey
troops would fight. The whole country rang with their praises. General Hooker, in
his official report, bore the very highest testimony to their gallantry, and General
Heintzelman was profuse in his praises. Even the newspaper correspondents, usually
ignoring the services of New Jersey troops, for once wrote in terms of the warmest
commendation. A correspondent of the Philadelphia Inquirer, writing at the time,
said: " New Jersey may well be proud of her sons in this battle. Men never stood up
more bravely to their work, and the conflict at Wiliiamsburg proves that the Jersey
Blues of our day are worthy descendants of the heroes who made her name and soil
sacred for all time in the dark hours of the Revolution." A correspondent of the
Philadelphia Press said that our "brave boys fought like tigers, driving back the enemy
with great slaughter."  As to the reports of the brigade and regimental officers, all,
without exception, commended the behavior of the troops. These reports are as follows, that of General Patterson, commanding the brigade, being first given:
" SIR: In obedience to the orders of the General of the Division, on the morning of
the 5th inst., I followed the First.Brigade and found it engaged on the right of the Williamsburg road. The Fifth New Jersey Regiment, Colonel Starr, was detached fiom
the brigade by order of the General, and deployed to the right of the road to support
thebatteries of the division. The Sixth Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Van Leer, and
the Seventh, Lieutenant-Colonel Carman, were deployed on the left of the road; the
Eighth Regiment, Colonel Johnson, had not yet come up. A wood extended from the
road, northwesterly to a line of field-works that extended perpendicularly across the
road front. The Sixtl and Seventh Regiments occupied this wood by a flank march,




136               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
The day following this sanguinary conflict, the brigade encamped
on the battle-field, being engaged in burying the dead and other sad
duties consequent upon the battle. Three days afterwards, it took
up the line of march towards Richmond, arriving on the 26th at
Turner's Farm, some distance beyond Bottom's Bridge, and about
four miles from Seven Pines, or Fair Oaks. At this time Casey's
Division, of the Fourth Corps, (Keyes') was stationed at Fair Oaks,
and the Third, (to which the brigade belonged,) upon its arrival,
took position in rear of the former. On the 31st, Casey's Division
was suddenly attacked  by the enemy in large force, and  after a
brief resistance, was driven back in confusion, some of his troops
retreating in the most shameful disorder.   Fresh troops, however,
opportunely arriving, the enemy was held in check, though the
battle became general all along the line, and the assailants, at the
main point of attack, had gained a considerable advantage. Late
in the afternoon, orders were received to advance the Third Corps,
which was promptly done.  The Seventh and Eighth New Jersey
being detailed as a reserve for the performance of specific duties
of an important character, the Fifth and Sixth (the latter under
Colonel Mott) moved  forward  under Colonel Starr, (General Patand moved to the front by the right of companies, about two-thirds the distance to the
line of field-works in front, when our skirmishers came upon the enemy's forces, as we
could not see them, the woods having a growth of under-brush. The skirmishers
being re-called, the two regiments advanced until met by a warm fire, when the companies were formed forward into line and marched rapidly to the front, some hundred
paces, halted and a file fire opened and kept up until the opposing fire was silenced,
when we again advanced, and were again met by a heavy fire, and the command was
ordered to lie down. It was now patent that we were outnumbered, as, in addition to
a heavy fire in front, it was spreading around our left flank. Colonel Johnson, with
the Eighth, having come up, was deployed on the left of the regiments already in line,
and for a time silenced their fire. The heaviest fire that had yet occurred was now
opened on our right; it was met by a direct fire from our right and an oblique fire from
our center and silenced. During this time the commands of officers in a large column
moving in our front and to our left were heard, and the efforts to outflank us was
continued. There being no more men available, and having sent twice for reinforcements, Colonel Johnson was ordered to change front obliquely to the rear on his right
company; this, for a time, preserved the flank. Reinforcements had been twice applied for-none came-outnumbered five to one, outflanked, and out of ammunition,
the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Regiments, numbering when they entered the field
seventeen hundred and sixty-seven men for duty, to avoid being surrounded, fell
slowly back by my orders, before a division consisting of Pryor's Virginia and North
Carolina, Gholson's Mississippi and Alabama, and Pickett's Virginia Brigades, forming
a division of six thousand men, with a loss of one hundred and seventeen killed, two




THE SECOND BRIGADFE                               137
terson being ill,) cutting their way through the mass of panicstricken fugitives.  Reaching the field at dark, the regiments went
hundred and eighty-four wounded, and two hundred and thirty-five missing, from the
ground they had taken and held, within one hundred yards of the end of the woods,
from eight until half-past one o'clock, to their original position on the left of the road.
The conduct of the officers and men of the brigade, including my personal staff, was,
without exception, marked by coolness, steadiness, and valor. Their loss, in this, their
first engagement, bears ample testimony to the proverbial gallantry of the State they
came from. The Fifth Regiment, Colonel Starr, was separated from the brigade, and
placed, by order of the General of the division on the right of the road and removed from
my observation. Its loss was eight killed, seventy wounded, including the Colonel,
and thirty-seven missing. It was under fire from morning until night. Since writing
the above, I have obtained the list of casualties.
"Fifth Regiment, Colonel Starr commanding. Killed, two lieutenants, sevennoncommissioned officersand privates; wounded, one colonel, one captain, seven lieutenants, fifty-eight non-commissioned officers and men; missing, twenty-eight noncommissioned officers and men.
"Sixth Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel John P. Van Leer commanding. Killed, one
lieutenant-colonel, one lieutenant, thirty-seven non-commissioned officers and privates;
wounded, four captains, three lieutenants, seventy-one non-commissioned officers and
privates; missing, twenty-six non-commissioned officers and privates.
"Seventh Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel E. A. Carman commanding. Killed, one
lieutenant, twenty-seven non-commissioned officers and privates; wounded, one lieutenant-colonel, three captains, five lieutenants, seventy-seven non-commissioned officers
and privates; missing, nine non-commissioned officers and privates.
"Eighth Regiment, Colonel Adolphus J. Johnson commanding. Killed, one major,
one lieutenant, thirty-four non-commissioned officers and privates; wounded, one
colonel, four captains, six lieutenants, one hundred and seventeen non-commissioned
officers and privates; missing, four non-commissioned officers and privates.
"Recapitulation: Killed, wounded and missing, two colonels, two lieutenantcolonels, one major, twelve captains, twenty-five subalterns, four hundred and fiftyi.x non-commissioned officers and privates. Aggregate, four hundred and eighty-eight"The loss of the services of Colonel Johnson and Lieutenant-Colonels Van Leer and
Carman, and Major Ryerson, is a vory serious one, in so far as the future service of the
brigade is concerned. They had the respect and confidence of their commands, and
proved they well deserved it. I have yet to learn if the brigade can be handled in
evolutions of the line with such a destitution of field officers. To risk a reputation so
dearly earned, without them, until those taking their places have learned their duties,
would be injustice. I append hereto a list of casualties.
"I have the honor to be,
"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"F. E. PATTERSON,
"Brig.-Gen. U. S. Volunteers, Commanding Brigade."
In a supplemental report, General Patterson says:
"The Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Regiments were under my immediate command;
their commanders all join in praise of the steadiness and bravery of their commands,
and say that they are able to name but few as having particularly distinguished themselves, because all seemed animated with the desire to do their whole duty, and all
succeeded. Major Burling, now in command of the Sixth Regiment, in his report
speaks in high terms of praise of the heroic conduct of Lieutenant-Colonel John P.
Van Leer and of Adjutant Aaron Wilks, both of whom were killed, while in the act of
cheering and encouraging their men; and Major Price of the Seventh speaks in the
highest terms of the conduct of Lieutenant-Colonel Carman, who was severely
18




138               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
into position and so remained during the night. On the morning
of June 1st, the battle was renewed, and again, as at Williamsburg,
wounded, and of Captains L. R. Francine, Bartlett, Sims, First Lieutenants Thomson
and Wetherall, Second Lieutenant Wm. Harrison, Sergeant-Major Crane, Color-Sergeant Onslow and Sergeant Molloy. The Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eighth pays a just
tribute to the gallantry of Colonel A. J. Johnson, who was dangerously wounded; and
to the memory of Major Peter M. Ryerson who fell dead while directing the operations
of the regiment after Colonel Johnson had been carried from the field. The conduct
of Captains Wm. A. Henry, Company B, and Tuite, Company C, who (after the regiment had fallen back and were about being replaced by the Excelsior Brigade,) collected together a number of volunteers and again entered the contest in company with
that brigade, cannot, I think, be too highly commended. These officers were unanimous in their expressions of approbation of the skill and indefatigable exertion of the
medical staff, and of the Chaplain, who fearlessly rushed into danger to assist in bearing off the wounded.
" I may be permitted to say, in conclusion, that when it is remembered that the brigade had been worn down by labor in the trenches before Yorktown, by their long and
wearisome march, which extended into the night before the battle, and by the weight
of one hundred rounds of ammunition which each man carried, joined to the fact that
for the preceding thirty-six hours they had had but little to eat, entering the battle
wet, cold and hungry-it will be conceived that the performance of the brigade has
never been surpassed, and rarely equalled, by men for the first time under fire."
The report of Colonel Starr, of the Fifth Regiment, was as follows:
" SIR: In compliance with a circular from Headquarters Army of the Potomac, of the
10th inst., I have the honor to report the part taken by my regiment in the action before Williamsburg, Va., on the 5th of May.
" Early on the morning of the 5th, the regiment, worn out by labor in the trenches.
at Yorktown, and by the preceding day's march with a hundred rounds of ammunition
in their knapsacks and cartridge boxes, suffering from privations and exposure, was
marched to the front along a road completely enfiladed by the enemy's cannon. Debouching from the woods which lined the road on either hand, I received orders from
General Hooker, in person, to march my regiment to the support of a battery, (manned
by regular troops, I have been informed,) which was engaged with the enemy's chief
defensive work in front.  On receiving this order, I marched my regiment at right
angles to the road, and took up a position to its right, on the edge of the fallen timber
or abattis, in the rear of the battery I was to support, at the distance of about sixty
yards. This position was one of great difficulty for raw troops, owing to the fact that
the regiment was compelled to remain inactive, exposed to a severe fire of shell, grape
and musketry from the work in front, and from a raking fire from a redoubt on its
left flank. In this position the regiment remained from about eight o'clock, a. m., till
about two o'clock, p. m., losing many men. The battery I was supporting was abandoned by its cannoneers at about half-past twelve o'clock, the men retiring through my
lines. The cannoneers were driven from their guns by the cannon of the enemy, as
they were threatened at no time after I had taken my position, by either cavalry or infantry. The enemy had turned the left flank of our position, upon which were engaged the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth New Jersey Regiments, (Patterson's Brigade,
Hooker's Division,) and was slowly pressing these regiments back. Seeing this, and
perceiving that defeat was probable, unless reinforced immediately, (owing to the
greatly superior force of the enemy,) and also seeing that the deserted and now useless battery would be best protected by moving my regiment forward, covering the
left flank of the battery, where alone it was threatened, without orders I changed front
forward on my left and took up a position on the before-mentioned road, (still enfiladed
by the enemy's batteries,) on the right of the regiment above-named. The new line of




THE SECOND  BRIGADE.                            139
the Jersey Regiments had the post of honor in the advance. As
upon that memorable field they had saved the division from destruction, so now they were called upon to retrieve the broken fortunes of the previous day. Placing himself at their head, General
battle was at right angles with and to the old. In this position my regiment was actively engaged, and suffered severely, and I believe contributed considerably to the
final result. My loss was one hundred and three killed, wounded and missing. A list
of the names of these I have had the honor already to submit. The regiment was
under fire ten hours, without intermission, viz: from eight o'clock, a. m., till six
o'clock, p. m. Myself and officers were without food for sixty hours, except four or
five small crackers each.
"The regiment was brave, and I have reason to congratulate myself in having command of as gallant a regiment as any in the service. Some distinguished themselves
above others for their coolness, many for their courage and zeal. At present, from
want of information, I can only mention those by name who distinguished themselves
under my own observation and that of the officers in whose reports I place great confidence: Lieutenant-Colonel G. Mott, Lieutenant and Adjutant V. M. Healy, (severely
wounded), Lieutenant Edward A. Actor, (severely wounded,) Captains John Ramsey,
E. C. Hopper, J. J. Cladek, Robert S. Gould, Lieutenants Wm. H. Hill, (severely
wounded,) Simon P. Whitly, (dangerously wounded,) Geo. S. Russell, Henry H. Woolsey, Thomas W. Eayrc, John H. Moore, John L. Pierson. The following non-commissioned officers and privates arc also commended for their courage and gallantry:
Sergeant-Major William P. Wheeler, First Sergeant Geo. Bryan, Company I; Sergeants
Chas. W. Arnett and Sam'l Mustard, Company A; First Sergeant Robt. H. Bancroft,
Sergeants John N. Flannigan and Archibald M. Kaig, Corporals Jas. McConnell and
David Miller, privates Patrick Kane and John Irving, Company G; First Sergeant Jno.
K. Simonds, and Corporal I. Z. Taylor, Company D; First Sergeant F. A. Brill, Sergeants F. Clure and J. Hable, and Corporal Wm. M. Blaise, privates Chas. Daily, G.
W. Dally, Chas. Richter, Dallas Noc, John Johnson and others, of Company H.
"It will give me pleasure to do justice to other gallant men in a subsequent report,
whose names are omitted here for want of space or information. It would be a gross
neglect on my part were I to omit to mention in this place the names of the Rev.
Thos. Sovereign and Assistant-Surgeon Henry F. Vanderveer, whose indefatigable labors
and untiring zeal in attending the wounded and ministering to their comfort, merit
higher commendation than I can bestow. The names of the gallant dead of the regiment will be cherished in the history of their country and State.
" The casualties were, killed 10; wounded 65; missing 28.
"S. H. STARR,
" Colonel Fifth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers."
The following is the report of the Seventh Regiment:
" SI: I have the honor to report our loss in killed, wounded and missing, in the late
engagement with the enemy. Lieutenant-Colonel E. A. Carman wounded; killed,
27; wounded, 86; missing, 10. Where all behaved gallantly, it is very difficult to
make distinction, but I cannot but notice the coolness and bravery of Captain H. C.
Bartlett, Company C, Captain S. D. Sims, Company I, Captain James M. Brown, Company K, Lieutenant Witherall, Company F, Lieutenant Thompson, Company A, Lieutenant Hart, Company E, Lieutenant Harrison, Company C, Sergeant Crane, Company
C, (Acting Sergeant-Major,) Sergeant Mallory, Company C, Acting Color-Sergeant
Onslow, Company F, and private Jno. Taylor; whoI all displayed unflinching courage,
coupled with remarkable coolness, under the heavy fire to which they were exposed.
"Very respectfully submitted,
" FRANCIS PRICE, JR.,
"Major Seventh Regiment New Jersey Volunteers Commanding."




140               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
Hooker called upon them to follow him  against the foe, and with a
shout they swept on to the fray. At this time the firing had commenced on the right, and was rapidly running down the line of the
railroad upon which our troops advanced. Soon the enemy were
found in a strip of woods close to the railroad, and going into
position, both regiments were speedily engaged, having the Excelsior Brigade on their right. The fight was a furious one, continuing
for two hours and a half without a moment's abatement.  The
Jersey regiments, indomitable in their pluck, not only held their
ground, but by a continuous deadly fire and charges with the bayonet, inflicted terrible loss upon the rebel ranks.  At length, determined to strike a decisive blow, Hooker, again placing himself at
the head of the gallant command, charged straight into and through
the woods, breaking the rebel lines and driving the enemy in great
confusion for a considerable distance, recovering all the ground lost
by Casey's Division, and ending the fight for the day on that part
of the line.  In  this conflict, the loss of the Fifth Regiment was
four men killed, fifty-one wounded and two missing.  The loss of
the Sixth was seven killed and fourteen wounded.  General Hooker
in his report of this battle again testified in the most emphatic
terms to the gallantry of both regiments, and adds that the service
assigned to the Seventh and Eighth, in the rear, was also performed
to his entire satisfaction.4
4 [Extracts fromn General Hooker's Report.]
"It gives me great pleasure to bear testimony to the continued good conduct of the
Fifth and Sixth New Jersey Regiments. Their ranks have been greatly thinned by
battle and sickness, and they had, been encamped in the immediate neighborhood of
troops partially demoralized from the events of the preceding day, yet on the first indication of a renewal of the conflict, I found their lines formed, and they were as ready
to meet it as though our arms had been crowned with success. This is also true of the
regiments of the Second Brigade. Brigadier-General F. E. Patterson was prevented
from participating in these operations on Sunday, by sickness, and his command devolved on Colonel S. H. Starr, of the Fifth New Jersey Regiment, whose energy and
courage were conspicuous on every part of the field. Especial mention is also due to
Colonel G. Mott and Lieutenant-Colonel George C. Burling, of the Sixth New Jersey
Regiment, for their distinguished services on this field. Here, as elsewhere, they have
shown themselves to be officers of uncommon merit. To these bright names I must
also add that of Chaplain Samuel T. Moore, of the Sixth New Jersey Regiment, whose
care and devotion to the sick will endear him to the remembrance of every soldier. He
was the last to quit the field."
The brigade report of this battle is as follows:
" SIR: I have the honor to report the part taken by this brigade in the affair with the




THE SECOND  BRIGADE.                             141
The enemy having fled, the Fifth and Sixth went into camp for
the night in their old position, but on the morrow advanced and
enemy on the 1st instant. Two regiments of the brigade (the Seventh and Eighth New
Jersey) were sent back as a guard for the depot of supplies, at Bottom's Bridge,
and took no part in the engagement. The other two, (the Fifth and Sixth New Jersey,)
under General Patterson, marched forward from our late camp, late on the afternoon of
the 31st ultimo. General Patterson was very ill, and unable to take active command,
but accompanied us in the advance.
"The road and fields, on both sides of the road, were thronged with flying regiments
from the battle-ground, two or three miles in front, through whose routed and disorderly masses I was compelled to force my way with bayonet and sabre. At seven
a. m., on the 1st instant, the Fifth and Sixth New Jersey marched forward, (General
Patterson still being very ill,) and were actively engaged from about quarter past seven
a. m. until a quarter to ten a. m., two and a half hours, with the enemy; the Fifth
Regiment losing four privates killed, three officers and fifty-one men, commissioned
officers and privates wounded, and two privates missing. Total, sixty. I have the
honor of transmitting herewith a list of their names. The loss of the Sixth Regiment
has not yet been reported to me, but is considerable less. General Hooker was himself
a witness a part of the time of the behavior of the two regiments under my command,
and to him I leave the comments thereon. Credit being but reluctantly recorded this
brigade for its services, its members look inwards and upwards for their reward. The
Fifth and Sixth Regiments have been for four days and nights under arms-in battle, reconnoissance, and in holding the most advanced position on this flank of the
army. They are still under arms and see no prospect of an hour's rest for days to
come. They have been exposed night and day to deluges of rain, and have suffered
every species of privation incident to an army in an enemy's country. But among
the greatest of their sufferings may be ranked the intolerable stench to which they
have been and are exposed, arising from the unburied dead bodies of men and horses
that were and are thickly scattered over the ground for hundreds of acres around. I
have caused to be buried all my men's strength and time enabled them to bury, but I
suffered many to lie unburied not many hundred yards distant. The following named
officers deserve particular mention for their coolness under fire; Major John Ramsey;
Captains W. J. Sewell, E. C. Hopper and Roswell S. Reynolds; Lieutenants T. Kelly,
E. P. Berry, T. P. Large and others, of the Fifth Regiment; Colonel G. Mott, Lient.Colonel Bushing and Lieutenant Crawford of the Sixth Regiment. All these came
under my personal observation. For want of information I am unable to name any
others of the Sixth Regiment. Lieutenant G. S. Russell (Fifth), my Adjutant, was compelled to retire from the field during action on account of illness; while in action his
bearing met my approval. Captain Gould (Fifth), also, from the same cause, withdrew
by my permission, but bore himself well during the engagement. First Sergeant William Newman, Fifth New Jersey Volunteers, commanded the company after Captain
Gould withdrew from the field, and deserves high commendation.
"S. H. STARR,
"Colonel Fifth New Jersey Volunteers,
"Commanding Brigade."
In a private note to Governor Olden, dated "Seven Pines, June 6th," Colonel Starr
says:
"I beg leave to refer to the telegram, purporting to be from General McClellan, published in the New York Herald, of the 2d instant. That article gives the credit to a
regiment of Sickles' Brigade of driving back the enemy in a bayonet charge in the
affair of the 1st. The facts are these: The Fifth and Sixth New Jersey marched upon
the field of battle at seven a. m., and remained upon the field as long as there was an
enemy within musket-range, in sight or within reach. The enemy was entirely re



142               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
occupied the ground recovered from the enemy, where they remained, being joined by the Seventh and Eighth,5 uptil the 25th of
June, being almost constantly on duty at the front.  At this time
the position was about as follows: Immediately in front of Hooker
there was a wide field and entanglement, which was commanded
by our troops. Beyond this, there was a belt of timber and thicket,
perhaps five hundred yards wide, which had been bloodily debated
pulsed along my whole front. The Eighth Alabama Regiment, a crack and pet regiment of the enemy, numbering thirteen hundred men, were the troops with which my
men were engaged. The enemy were so careful to preserve this regiment in the best
order for action, that it was not permitted to march upon the field like other regiments, but was brought forward by rail. The Colonel of the regiment was killed; I
have his horse now in my possession.  The enemy having fled from before us, and my
men lying idle, upon their arms, *  * * two or three regiments of the Sickles' Brigade came up in a loose manner and formed in my rear, and, after I had left under
orders, occupied my ground; but there was no enemy there, nor within their reach.
The bayonet charge with which the regiment of Sickles' Brigade is credited, if made at
all, was made upon an empty forest, in which was not an enemy. * * * It is repugnant to me to' fight my battles o'er again.' I am no writer; only a soldier. But
as the Jersey troops are not mentioned in General McClellan's telegram, and credit is
given by him where it is not due, my duty to my brave men-to the dead as well as the
living-requires of me this explanation."
B The Seventh and Eighth Regiments were ordered to occupy the entrenchments
which held the roads leading to the main bridges of the Chickahominy, the bridges
over which all the supplies from the White House reached the army, and over which
the retreat would take place if there should be a retreat. The post was, therefore, one
of the greatest importance. There were three entrenchments. In one was a battalion
of the Seventh Regiment, under Major Price; in another, detachments from the Seventh and Eighth Regiments, under Major Henry, of the Eighth Regiment; and in the
center was the greater part of the Eighth Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Martin,
who commanded the post. The troops rested on their arms during Saturday night, and
through the day were on the qui vive. But the battle did not reach this point. The
design of the enemy was to drive back the Union army, and then to cut a dam they had
constructed so as to flood the swamp and swell the river, and thus destroy our army
either by cutting it to pieces or drowning it. They did succeed in cutting the dam, designing to at least prevent supplies reaching our forces. The swamp was flooded, and
the bridges of the Chickahominy were carried away. This was on Sunday. For a time
there was great danger, as all the supplies were beyond the river, as also all camp furniture and a great portion of the ammunition. Lieutenant-Colonel Martin at once sent
large details from the troops under his command, weakening the post to obviate, if
possible, a greater disaster than even the loss of the position he held. These details
were relieved at regular intervals. Under the charge of competent engineers, they repaired the bridges, though at the expense of severe labor and great fatigue-working
nearly all the time in the water. Not in vain, therefore, were the Seventh and Eighth
Regiments on the field. But for their labors very serious trouble would, in all probability, have ensued. They did another good work. A large number of stragglers,
especially from the unfortunate division commanded by General Casey, attempted to
reach the rear. They were arrested at the entrenchments, which, at one time, consisted
of quite an army of these fugitives. A large number of the wounded also found refuge
here, whose wants were kindly attended to by the regimental surgeons.




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                    148
for three weeks or more, while still further beyond was another
broad field, intersected by a stage road and railroad, and commanded
by rifle-pits and a redoubt. For reasons known to himself, General
McClellan desired to advance his lines so as to secure the woods,
and obtain command of the rifle-pits beyond, and General Heintzelman was accordingly ordered to push Hooker's Division into the
disputed territory, and hold a line near the enemy's esplanade. On
the 25th, at seven o'clock in the morning, Hooker advanced two
brigades-Grover's and Sickles'-into the woods, and the enemy's
pickets being pushed back on the picket-reserve, the engagement
soon became general and severe. The enemy having the advantage
of position, and fighting with great obstinacy, Sickles, after a
struggle of an hour and a half was brought to a stand still. At
this juncture the New Jersey Brigade was sent in as a support, and
the fight became yet more severe and desperate. At length, charging with Sickles' men, the brigade drove the enemy entirely
through the woods, capturing the camp of their reserve pickets,
and holding the position until Kearney, coming upon the scene
with Birney's Brigade, finished the work of the day. The conduct of the New Jersey troops in this engagement, known as the
" affair" of Fair Oaks Farm, was no less admirable than on previous occasions, and elicited warm expressions of approval from
Hooker and his subordinates.'  The losses of the brigade were as
follows: Fifth Regiment, two killed, thirteen wounded, two missing; Seventh Regiment, one killed, five wounded, one missing;
Eighth Regiment, one killed and six wounded.
From  this time the brigade remained in camp until the 29th,
when it was ordered to the rear, McClellan having determined on
a flank movement-or more properly, a retreat-through the White
Oak Swamp to the James River. On the following morning, having
marched until ten o'clock the previous night, the enemy cautiously
pursuing, the brigade was ordered into position as a second line of
battle to support Generals Kearney and McCall, who had made a
stand at Glendale. During the afternoon of that day, McCall's
6 General McClellan said of the affair in his report, " Hooker's Division has behaved
as usual; that is, most handsomely."




144            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Division was attacked with great violence by the enemy, and after
an ineffectual attempt to resist the assault his lines gave way, and
the entire division fled from the field, some of the fugitives rushing
through Hooker's lines, while others rushed down the road on
which his right was resting. Close upon the heels of these demoralized troops, came the broken masses of the enemy, pressing furiously
on towards Hooker's ranks, under cover of a woods in front. But
the veterans of Williamsburg and Seven Pines were ready for the
exultant columns.  Opening a rapid fire, they speedily checked
the pursuit and then advancing, the enemy were rolled back through
a part of McCall's camp, where they were assailed vigorously by
Kearney and so severely crippled as to abandon, for the time, all
operations upon our flank. In this combat, the New Jersey Brigade
was not directly engaged, but the Sixth Regiment had two men
wounded by the shells of the enemy. The brigade remained in
position until the following day, July 1st, when it fell back to
Malvern Hill and halted under shelter of a bluff, where it was engaged as a support to our batteries, being exposed all day to a
heavy fire of shot and shell, and losing eighteen men in killed,
wounded and missing.' On the 2d, it resumed its march towards
Harrison's Landing, reaching that point on the 3d, and going at
once into camp.  On the 20th of August, the brigade was again
ordered on duty, proceeding (with its division) on a reconnoissance
to Malvern Hill, where the enemy were found in small force and an
engagement resulted, during which the brigade made a charge and
carried the opposing works, capturing also a number of prisoners.
This was the last engagement in which the New Jersey regiments
participated during the Peninsula campaign, and they gladly welcomed the fortnight of rest which now followed.
No troops who fought in that terrible campaign made a more
brilliant record than these. From the hour when, footsore and
worn, they closed with the enemy at Williamsburg, meeting bravely
all the fury of his attack, until the new base on the James was' The casualties were as follows: Fifth Regiment, killed 2; missing 1. Sixth Regiment, wounded 1. Seventh Regiment, wounded 4; missing 9. Eighth Regiment,
wounded 1.




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                   145
reached, they were almost continuously engaged, their ranks growing
thinner with every battle; even in the retreat, while other commands marched unmolested, they were kept night and day on the
alert, now wading painfully through the swamps and forests, now
halting to fight and repulse the pursuing enemy, but through all
maintaining a serene and lofty courage, their hearts and their arms
nerved unfailingly by the thought that, whatever might be the
disaster of to-day, the sun would shine to-morrow, and the Cause
surely triumph in the End. It was no wonder that such men,
displaying such a spirit, as they marched grandly on in that
campaign, came at last to challenge universal homage, and that, in
the crisis of every sore and critical conflict, Hooker was wont to
cry out for his old brigade, and when its standards came fluttering
into view, grew hopeful in the very midst of disaster.
The losses of the brigade in this consuming campaign are alone
sufficient to illustrate its bravery and the estimate placed upon it
by those in command. When it reached Yorktown, early in April,
it numbered some two thousand seven hundred men. When it
went into camp at IHarrison's Landing, it had been reduced by onethird; its losses in killed and wounded alone amounting to six
hundred and thirty-four. Of the killed, nine were commissioned
officers, while of the wounded, thirty-nine were officers mainly of
the higher ranks.
On the 21st of July, General McClellan having been ordered to
transfer his army to Alexandria, the brigade marched to Yorktown,
and there embarking on transports, proceeded to the point designated. Immediately upon its arrival, it was ordered to Warrenton
Junction, whither it proceeded by rail on the 25th. At this time,
General Pope had already been engaged with the enemy, who had
hurried up from the Peninsula in strong force, and on the very day
on which the Third Corps reached Warrenton, Stonewall Jackson
had moved around our army so as to strike the railroad in its rear,
which he did at dusk on the following day, taking position at
Bristow Station (on the Alexandria Railroad), whence he com19




146           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
menced at once to operate on our communications. Information
of this movement reaching Hooker, he at once ordered the destruction of the property at Warrenton Junction not needed for his use,
and advanced to meet the enemy. At Bristow Station, on the 27th,
he found Ewell's Division, of Jackson's command, and immediately
delivered battle. Here, once more, the Jersey Brigade was called
to the most dangerous service.  Being ordered to charge, the
men rushed upon the foe with eager impetuosity, putting them to
speedy flight, and pursuing them for a long distance with unsparing vigor and determination. In this engagement, Ewell lost a
part of his baggage, and was decidedly worsted. Night coming on,
he escaped total rout. On the following morning, (28th) Hooker
and Kearney again opened the ball, the enemy falling back towards
Bull Run, in the vicinity of which a severe battle ensued on the
following day, lasting until dark, with heavy losses on both sides.
Several charges were made by the New Jersey Brigade during the
day, but the enemy, having a strong position, were not dislodged,
and night came down with both armies resting on the field. During
this engagement Colonel Mott, of the Sixth Regiment, was badly
wounded in the fore-arm, and Lieutenant-Colonel Ward, of the
Eighth, in the arm and side, while Captain J. Tuite, of the Eighth,
and Captain Abbott of the Seventh, were killed, and a considerable
number wounded. At one time during the struggle, the rebels,
seeing that our columns were wavering, charged upon them, breaking the lines both on the right and left of the brigade, and creating
a momentary panic. But the brigade, standing firmly, marched
out of the woods in which it had been stationed, in solid column,
and formed another line of battle as coolly as on dress-parade.
The steadiness of the men in this emergency was invaluable, its
example alone having prevented a stampede. The fighting was
continued on the 30th, the brigade again participating, as also on
September 1st, but the enemy being largely reinforced, Pope's army
slowly fell back to its entrenchments, and there was a pause in
the tumult of battle. In this series of engagements, the brigade
suffered severely, losing at Bristow Station forty-four men in killed,
wounded, and missing; at Bull Run, one hundred and ninety-nine




THE  SECOND  BRIGADE.                           147
men; and at Chantilly, five; making a total of two hundred and
forty-eight, as follows:  Fifth  Regiment, fifty-one;  Sixth, one
hundred and four; Seventh, thirty-six; Eighth, twenty-five.'
Going into camp at Alexandria, the brigade remained undisturbed
until the 1st of November, when Lee having been driven from
Maryland, it proceeded towards Bristow Station, where it arrived
on the 4th, the Fifth  and  Sixth  Regiments being  in  advance.
Thence, on  the following day, it moved on a reconnoissance to
Catlett Station, but, having accomplished its object, at once returned
to its old camp, whence, shortly after, it withdrew  to Manassas
Junction.  This last march was made in the midst of a snow storm,
and the men  suffered severely.  On the 20th, General Burnside
having meanwhile been appointed to the command of the army,
8.The following is the report of the part taken by the Sixth Regiment in the battles
of the 27th, 29th and 30th of August:
"On Tuesday, August 26th, in compliance with orders from headquarters, the Sixth
Regiment left Camp near Alexandria, and embarked on the cars. Arriving at Warrenton Junction, we disembarked and encamped for the night.
"Wednesday morning, August 27th, received orders to march, with three days' rations; left camp near seven o'clock, a. m., and marched in the direction of Manassas,
and when near Bristow's Station found the enemy in force. After crossing a stream,
the Sixth and Seventh Regiments were temporarily detached from the brigade by
General Hooker in person. We then marched forward, deploying skirmishers on our
left. In a short time we met the pickets and drove them in. We were then ordered
to take an advanced position on a hill, to the right in front of us, which position we
gained without loss, under a terrible fire of shell fom the enemy. We were then
ordered to relieve the Second New York, Eighth New Jersey, and One Hundred and
Fiftcenth Pennsylvania Regiments, who were engaged on the right. Immediately on
reaching our new position, the enemy fled in great confusion, leaving their dead and
wounded in great numbers on the field. We pursuedthem for two miles, and encamped
for the night.
"Thursday, August 28th, pursued the enemy through the day and encamped near
Blackburn's Ford (Bull Run) that night.
"Friday, August 29th, left camp at 3 o'clock, a. m., pursuing the enemy through
Centreville, down the Warrenton road. Crossing Bull Run at ten o'clock, a. m., we
formed a line of battle and advanced in the woods to relieve one of General Sigel's
regiments, where we found the enemy in force behind the embankment of an old railroad. After delivering and receiving several volleys, we charged and drove them from
their position, when he received reinforcements, and we were compelled to fall back
nearly fifty yards, which position we held until we were relieved by the Second Maryland Regiment. During this engagement, Colonel G. Mott and Major S. R. Gilkyson,
while gallantly encouraging their men, were wounded. We encamped in the open field
for the night.
"Saturday, August 30th, formed a line of battle about four o'clock, p. m., and were
ordered to support batteries to the right and rear of the position we had held the day
before. Through some misunderstanding, my regiment being on the right, the other
regiments composing the brigade were withdrawn without my knowledge, leaving me




148               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
the  brigade took  up  its line of march for Falmouth, where it
arrived, after various experiences, on the night of the 28th-many
of the men being without shoes and all short of rations. During
this march, while lying at Fairfax Station, on the morning of the
22d, General Patterson, commanding the brigade, died suddenly in
his tent, and Colonel Revere, of the Seventh Regiment, succeeded
to the command.  General Patterson was a brave  and  efficient
soldier, and  was highly  esteemed by  his command.   He  was
appointed from  civil life into the Second Artillery on June  24,
1847, serving as a second lieutenant until March, 1855, when he
was made a captain in the Ninth Infantry, remaining until 1857,
when he resigned and retired from the service. Upon the outbreak
of the rebellion, he was among the first to enter the field, serving
as colonel of a three months' regiment, and subsequently enlisting
in a very critical position. The enemy makinga charge upon the batteries in front,
compelling them to fall back, I determined to resist their advance, when to my astonishment I found we were flanked right and left; I then ordered the regiment to fall
back in the woods, which was done in order, and thus checked the advance of the
enemy in front.
"At this time, finding the flanks of the enemy rapidly closing round us, the only
safety for my command was to retreat. In trying to extricate ourselves from the critical
position in which we were placed, my command suffered severely. I was enabled to
rally my regiment on a hill, in close proximity to the battle-field, under the shell of
the enemy, where we remained in line of battle with several other regiments until
ordered by the ranking officer to fall back to Centreville, where we joined the brigade
the following morning. We remained here until Monday afternoon, September 1st,
when orders were received to march with the brigade. Near sunset we halted and
formed a line of battle and remained in this position until daylight, when we again
took up our line of march to Fairfax Court House.
" I am under obligations to Captain Baker, Acting Major, who rendered efficient service after Colonel G. Mott and Major S. R. Gilkyson were wounded.
"I must also mention Adjutant C. F. Moore, who, throughout the different engagements, displayed unusual courage, rendering efficient service. Captains T. C. Moore, I.
U. Crawford and W. William, and Lieutenants J. Howeth, Thomas Lee, B. Coley, C.
Merriam, J. W. Cogswell, J. Tallow, West, Field and Joseph C. Lee, are deserving of
great praise for gallantry displayed in these battles, as in former ones.
"With few exceptions, the non-commissioned officers and privates, conducted themselves with that valor which has given our brigade and division the name we are
proud of.
"It gives me pleasure to speak of the indefatigable exertions of Surgeon John Wiley
and his able assistant B. Hendry, and also Chaplain S. T. Moore, for their care and
attention to the wounded.
"The casualties were as follows: Killed 18; wounded 46; missing 36; wounded and
missing 2. Total 105.
"GEORGE C. BURLING,
"Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding Sixth New Jersey Volunteers."




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                   149
for three years. He was made a General in April, 1862, being
then about thirty-five years of age.
On the 11th of December, General Burnside having matured his
plans for a demonstration against Fredericksburg, the brigadethen commanded by General Mott-moved from its camp to the
banks of the Rappahannock.  Crossing two days after about a mile
below the city, it was pushed forward, on the 15th, to the extreme
front, companies from each regiment being detailed on the skirmish
line. Hooker's Grand Division, however, occupying the center of
the line of battle, and only one corps being actually engaged, the
New Jersey regiments escaped any serious casualties-only one
man (in the Seventh Regiment) being killed. Late on the night
of the same day, the brigade re-crossed the river, being among
the last to leave the field, and occupied its old camp until the
30th, when, after a slight change of position, went into winter
quarters.
The winter passed without any operations of interest. On the
28th of January, General IHooker was appointed to the supreme
command, and the work of re-organizing the army was actively
commenced. This being completed, an advance was again ordered.
The New Jersey brigade, which at this time included the Second
New York and One Hundred and Fifteenth Pennsylvania Regiments,
as well as the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth New Jersey, all
under command of General Mott, crossed the Rappahannock on
Friday, May 1st. Two regiments, the Fifth and Eighth New Jersey, were detached to guard the pontoons, while the others were
picketed along the Rappahannock to its junction with the Rapidan,
and thence along that river to connect with pickets thrown out by
Carr's First New York Brigade. Soon after this disposition, however, had been made, orders were received to withdraw the pickets
and to advance the whole division to the front; but while waiting
for the Fifth and Eighth Regiments to join the brigade, General
Mott received further instructions directing him to guard the ford,
Lieutenant Seeley's battery being placed at his disposal to aid in
that duty. Pickets were accordingly thrown out to join those of
General Humphreys on the Rappahannock, and along the Rapidan




150           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
for a distance of four miles. The brigade remained in this position
until five o'clock on the afternoon of the 2d, when General Mott
received information that the Eleventh Corps, engaged at Chancellorsville, had disgracefully broken. Fearing that a cowardly stampede might ensue, General Mott at once placed guns in position to
guard all the approaches to the bridges, determined to arrest, at
whatever cost, the panic-stricken fugitives from the field. About
an hour after, an aid from Major-General Berry, commanding the
division, reached General Mott with orders to march the brigade,
with the battery, immediately to the front. Hardly had this order
been received when Colonel Dickerson, Assistant-Adjutant-General
to General Hooker, came dashing up with an order to the same
effect from the Commanding General. Owing, however, to the extended line of pickets still remaining out, the brigade and battery
did not get in motion, in obedience to this order, until nearly
eleven o'clock at night, and the road being found blocked up by
the First Army Corps, they did not arrive at Chancellorsville until
about two o'clock on the morning of the 3d. Here it was joined
by the Seventh Regiment, which had been detached for special
duty, and the brigade stacked arms and slept. At half-past four
o'clock, however, it was again placed under arms and put in position about one hundred and fifty yards in rear of a Maryland brigade which held a slight breastwork in front; In this position the
right of the brigade rested on the Plank Road, connecting with the
First Brigade of the division. At six o'clock, the battle opened
with skirmishing on the left which soon extended along the entire
front, accompanied by a hot artillery fire from the enemy, the first
shot from his guns killing two men of the Eighth Regiment. Soon,
the enemy advancing in force, the Maryland brigade was driven in,
and about the same time the First Division of the Third Corps
gave way. The Jersey brigade at once occupied the breastwork in
front, and the engagement became general, the enemy hurling brigade after brigade against our position, but being each time repulsed
with great slaughter; losing also eight colors' and one thousand men
9 The whole number of flags taken during the day was fifteen.




THE SECOND  BRIGADE.                              151
in prisoners.  Here for two hours, around this position, the fight
continued, the heroic brigade stubbornly and gallantly holding the
breastwork.  During the contest, General Mott was wounded, when
Colonel Sewell, of the Fifth, assumed command.  At length, however, the men having almost exhausted  their ammunition, and no
supports, although repeatedly sent for, being advanced to their aid,
the command reluctantly withdrew to the rear of the Chancellor
House, where it reformed. Soon after, finding that the enemy had
taken possession of some works thrown up for the protection of
artillery, Colonel Sewell, though the brigade was terrible thinned,
gallantly led it to another charge, driving the rebels clear out of
the works, and planting his colors right on the parapet.10  Finding,
however, that an attempt to hold the position would only result in
lo A writer in the Washington Chronicle gives the following description of the grand
charge of the brigade:
" Now came one of those splendid achievements seldom occurring in this war so far,
but which, when occurring, cover a soldier's career with imperishable glory. A mass
of men from twenty different regiments had gathered along the line where the Jersey
Brigade was formed, as if uncertain what else to do with themselves. Colonel Sewell,
who commanded the brigade, (General Mott having been wounded,) with the quick
instinct of a true soldier, at once took them in hand, and rallying them around his
colors, ordered the whole line forward. At the time, the rebels were swarming out of
the woods, and moving rapidly across the low ground and up the declivity, and it
seemed madness to advance. But Sewell wanted to recover the hill in order to plant
our artillery there again, should it succeed in procuring ammunition. Seeing the line
hesitate, Sewell himself galloped a hundred feet to the front, and waving his sword,
called upon'the Jerseymen, at least, to follow him.' His gallant example was irresistible.
" With a rush and a cheer, amid a storm of bullets forward the whole line went, on
the double quick, planted every one of their regimental colors on the little earthworks that crowned the crest of the hill, and repulsed every attack that the swarming
rebels dared make upon them. Sewell gallantly held the positions, until satisfied that
the artillery would not again come up, and then steadily, in good order, fell back and
rejoined the division in the rear of Chancellorsville-the battle soon after ceasing.
This gallant feat was witnessed by many officers high in rank, and is but another of the
illustrious deeds of valor that crowd the history of Hooker's old division. Well may
General Hooker call it his'Old Guard.' In the past it has never failed him, and in
the future he may rely upon it implicitly'every time.'
"The Jersey Brigade that day won lasting renown. The long and careful training
that General Mott and his predecessor, General Carr, had given it, met with its appropriate reward. Its praise was in every mouth, and its splendid valor was the pride of
the army.
" Sewell's fine soldierly conduct, and his eminent capacity for command, were complimented on the field, and the brigade looks to him to-day as the fit successor to the
gallant Mott, who, by a long course of meritorious services, has won the right to command a division. Hooker is not the General to forget a valuable man. He believes in
the sensible maxim of Carlyle's,' The tools to himwho can use them.' "




152           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
the sacrifice of his command, he withdrew under a severe fire,
losing men at every step, and took position in the new line in the
rear of the Chancellor House.
Probably no engagement in which the brigade was ever engaged
was more severe and bloody than this. It is certain that, bravely
as the men had fought on other desperate fields, they had never
displayed greater heroism and sturdy obstinacy of purpose than on
this occasion. Without exception, every regiment engaged fought
with the utmost possible gallantry and spirit.  During the day,
General Mott had two narrow escapes; a ball at one time passing
between his bridle-arm  and body, while afterwards, being dismounted, he was struck with a musket ball in his left hand, which
penetrated the forefinger and fractured the bones of two other
fingers. After receiving this wound, he remained on the field for
some time, the wound bleeding freely, but was compelled at length
to retire. Among the incidents by which the battle was marked,
one at least, as illustrating the spirit with which it was fought,
deserves to be recited. At one period of the engagement, a section
of artillery belonging to Dimmick's Regular Battery, First Artillery,
being in danger of capture, all the cannonneers and horses having
been killed, General Mott dispatched Captain Nichols with
a detachment of men from  the Eighth New  Jersey Regiment
to bring it off by hand. This was attempted under a perfect hail
of shot from the enemy.  The detachment faltered for a moment,
but only for an instant, when General Mott ordered the colors to
be brought up, and declared that he himself would lead the detachment. The men with loud cheers rallied in a moment, and the
General led them through the leaden hail for a considerable distance, when his Assistant-Adjutant-General, Thomas W. Eayre, of
Burlington County, took his place and led them to the battery
under a most galling and terrific fire. The battery was rescued,
and the gallant heroes of the Eighth, with the brave Captain
Nichols, dragging it off, brought it safely into our lines. The
losses of the brigade during the day amounted to three hundred
and seventy eight men, as follows: Fifth Regiment, twelve killed,
one hundred and four wounded, nine missing; Sixth Regiment,




tHE SECOND  BRIGADE.                              153
six killed, fifty-nine wounded, eight missing; Seventh Regiment,
six killed, forty-three wounded, four missing; Eighth Regiment,
twenty-one killed, ninety-six wounded, ten missing." Among the
1 The following is an extract from Colonel Sewell's report of the action of the
brigade:
"  * *   May 2d, marched to the front, at ten o'clock, p. m., reaching the advance
line at two o'clock, a. m., where the Seventh New Jersey joined the command. At
half-past four o'clock, a. m., May 3d, the brigade was under arms, and immediately
afterwards was placed in position in the second line, its right resting on the plank road,
and connecting with the First Brigade of this division. At six o'clock, a. m., skirmishing commenced on the left, and soon extended along the whole front, accompanied by
a hot artillery fire from the enemy, which was very destructive to regiments in the
second line. At half-past six, a. m., the enemy advanced to the attack, driving in our
skirmishers, and soon afterwards a part of the first line nearest the road. The position
vacated by the first line was taken by the Fifth and Eighth New Jersey Regiments of
this command, when the engagement became general, the enemy advancing in such
strength that the second line became engaged in fifteen minutes after the first line was
attacked. It has been the fortune of this brigade to have participated in many hardfought actions, but former experience was nothing in comparison to the determination
of the enemy to carry this position. Battalion after battalion was hurled against our
ranks, each one to lose its colors, and many of its men taken prisoners. The Seventh
New Jersey here took five of the enemy's colors, the Fifth New Jersey three-the brigade at least one thousand prisoners. At half-past eight o'clock, a. m., I was informed
by Captain Eayre, Assistant-Adjutant-General, of General Mott being wounded, as
also Colonels Burling and Park, which left me in command of the brigade. General
Mott, up to this time, had been wherever his presence was necessary-his gallantry in
this, as in previous actions, inspiring confidence in all. I now rode to the right of my
line, and, crossing the plank road in search of General Berry, found that he had been
killed some time previous. My ammunition was nearly out, and the enemy on my
right flank.  I here found the Eleventh New Jersey, of the First Brigade, and requested Colonel McAllister to advance for the protection of my flank, to which he
very gallantly responded, driving the enemy and relieving me from an enfilading fire;
but to hold the position longer, it required reinforcements. I sent Captain Eayre to
Major-General Sickles, to state my condition, but did not receive any encouragement.
Immediately afterwards, I went to him myself, but with the same result; there were
no reserves at his disposal. The enemy still advancing in great force, I fell back slowly
in rear of the line of batteries, where, under the orders of General Sickles, and with
the assistance of Lieutenant-Colonel Hayden, of his staff, I reformed the remnants of
the brigade. Previous to this time, Colonel Francine had retired from the field, (unwell,) having fought his regiment gallantly up to that time; but, unfortunately, now
taking with him some four hundred of the brigade, under the impression that I had
been wounded, which left me with about three hundred men and the twelve colors of
the brigade. The batteries soon retired, their position being immediately occupied by
the enemy's infantry. The fire became so hot here, that, to remain in that position,
would be only to sacrifice my men, and, having no orders to retire, I advanced once
more on the double-quick, again driving the enemy, taking possession of the small
works thrown up for the protection of our guns, planting the colors of the brigade on
the parapets. My last round was fired here, and no sign of support coming up, I retired from the field,,under a severe fire from the enemy's artillery and infantry, losing
men at every step. Joining the division in the rear of the Chancellor House, I reported to Brigadier-General Carr, and was assigned a position in the third line of the
new position. In this action, the brigade lost five officers killed, forty-six wounded,
fifty enlisted men killed, three hundred and seventy-four wounded, and forty-eight
20




154               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
killed were Lieutenants Sawyer and Moore, of the Fifth, while
among the wounded were Colonel John Ramsey, of the Eighth,
missing, most of which are supposed to have been killed or wounded when falling
back.
"May 4th, the enemy shelled our position, wounding two officers and four enlisted
men.
" May 6th, marched toward United States Ford, re-crossed the river and arrived in
camp the same day. To mention any number of officers in this brigade for gallant
conduct would be an injustice to the whole, where all behaved so nobly. To have
fought with this brigade on the 3d of May, 1863, is an honor which time cannot efface;
and the proud satisfaction of having performed their duty to their manhood, their
country and their God, is their reward.
"W. J. SEWELL,
"Colonel Fifth New Jersey Volunteers,
" Commanding Brigade."
The following are some of the regimental reports:
"SIR: I have the honor to forward herewith a report of the part taken by this
(Fifth) Regiment in the movements and actions of this army from the 28th ultimo to
the 16th ultimo, inclusive.
"On the evening of the 28th ultimo the regiment started from camp and marched to
the left about four miles and bivouacked. The following morning (29th) changed position and encamped for the night. Next day marched up the river from our bivouac
to one mile beyond Briar Church, a distance of eleven miles, where we rested for the
balance of the night.
" On the morning of May 1st, 1863, crossed the Rappahannock, and took up a position in support of a battery guarding' United States Ford;' returned and went on
picket; drew in our pickets and returned to our former position in support of the battery and slept on our arms that night. In the morning (May 2d) went on picket south
of the Ford, and immediately after posting our picket line, were re-called and marched
to the front, arriving on the advanced lines after midnight and slept on our arms.
"May 3d, at daybreak, the regiment stood to arms, and soon after were advanced a
short distance to the support of the line immediately on the left of the plank road,
where, after laying under fire about an hour, the enemy advancing in superior force,
caused the line in our front to give way, when, Colonel Sewell leading the regiment,
charged the enemy, repulsed and drove him from the breast-work, up to which he had
advanced, and he twice afterwards, on being repulsed, endeavored to take, but was each
time driven back with great loss. During this time we captured three stands of colors
and a great number of prisoners. The loss of the enemy in our immediate front was
at least three to one. This occupied about three hours, during which time the regiment was under incessant fire.
" During the action Colonel Sewell was called to the command of the brigade, when
Major Angel assumed command, but, being shortly after wounded, the command
devolved upon me.
"The regiment went into action three hundred and twenty strong, and lost, during
the engagement, as follows; Killed and wounded 116; missing 8. Total 124, (a list of
which I forwarded to you through Major Smith.)
"I have to speak in the highest terms of the conduct of both officers and men during
the engagement. Their courage and coolness was admirable under the most severe fire
that the regiment has ever experienced.
"After coming out of the engagement I formed the regiment in rear of a line already
formed, resting on the main road near the headquarters of General Hooker. I had, at
this time, several men from other regiments that I had collected together, and seeing
Colonel Francine, of the Seventh New Jersey Volunteers, whom I had just learned had




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                              155
Colonel Burling, of the Sixth, Major Angel, of the Fifth, and a
large  number of subordinate officers.  The brigade remained on
assumed command, (he having heard that Colonel Sewell was wounded,) taking a party
of men to my right, I joined him with my command, when he marched us to the rear,
as far as the United States Ford. Shortly after arriving there, we received an order
from Colonel Sewell to proceed again to the front, which we were proceeding to do,
and had got within a few hundred yards of our destination, when we were again
marched to the rear by Colonel Francine, but being overtaken by an order from General
Carr, then commanding the division, to return, he turned the command over to Lieutenant-Colonel Olmstead, Second New York Volunteers, and we again proceeded to the
front, where we joined the balance of the brigade and bivouacked.
"VIRGIL H. HEALY,
"Captain Fifth New Jersey Volunteers,
" Commanding Regiment."
The following is the report of the commanding officer of the Seventh New Jersey
Regiment:
"I have the honor to submit the following as the proceedings of my regiment in the
late movement against the enemy. At ten o'clock, p. m., Tuesday, (April 28th,) having
just returned from picket line, the regiment joined the brigade and marched to the
left and bivouacked near' White Oak Church' early the next morning. At daylight we
were massed to support troops in front of us. We remained in that position until one
o'clock of the afternoon of the 30th, when we retraced our steps and crossed the river
at the United States Ford early on the morning of the 1st of May.
"We remained at or near the ford doing picket duty until the following morning about
eight o'clock, a. m., when I received an order to report nm  regiment to General
Humphreys, commanding Third Division, Fifth Army Corps. I did so without delay,
and he assigned me a position on his extreme left to cover the approaches by the Mott
or River road to the United States Ford. Early in the afternoon of the same day he
(General Humphreys) ordered me to take a small body of picked men from my regiment
and reconnoiter the position of the enemy in my immediate front, to note the topography
of the country, and the,apparent strength of the enemy, and the means of their approach
to our lines; this I did, penetrating the country for two miles in one direction and a
mile and a half in another. My report was highly satisfactory to the General. I
am indebted deeply to Captain James McKiernan and Daniel R. Burrell of my regiment
for valuable services rendered upon that occasion. At midnight, I moved my regiment
to the right of our line, by order from General Meade through General Humphreys,
and joined the brigade, arriving there at about two o'clock, p. m. The following
morning (Sunday) at about five o'clock, a. m., my regiment was again detached from
the brigade, and under orders from Major Tremain, of General Sickles' staff, filled up
a gap occurring between Birney's right and our immediate front. After a short time
my regiment advanced into the woods in front of the breast-works, and by maintaining
a flanking position under a very heavy fire for over three hours, captured five stands
of colors and over three hundred prisoners; among the latter, one colonel, one major
and several line officers.  The colors were taken from  the Twenty-first Virginia,
Eighteenth North Carolina, First Louisiana, Second North Carolina, and the fifth from
some Alabama regiment. The Second North Carolina Regiment we captured almost
in toto. At about nine o'clock, the ammunition giving out, and the muskets becoming
foul, I ordered the regiment to fall back from the woods; after this a regiment having
fallen back from our breast-works, and the enemy coming close upon them (Second
North Corolina State troops), my regiment charged and captured their colors and
themselves almost wholly. Again we fell back slightly, and confusion occasioned by
our lines in front getting in disorder, threw my regiment farther back to the rear. At
this time, through exhaustion, my voice left me entirely, I being scarcely able to speak




156               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
the field until the  6th, when  it re-crossed and  occupied  its old
camp:
The invasion of Pennsylvania by General Lee, followed close
upon  the battle of Chancellorsville, and  in the fighting around
Gettysburg on the 2d and 3d of July, the Second Brigade again
suffered heavy loss.  At this time the One Hundred and Fifteenth
Pennsylvania and Second New Hampshire Regiments were attached
to the brigade, which was under the command of Colonel Burling,
of the Sixth Regiment, General Mott not having recovered from
his wound received at Chancellorsville.  The Corps (Third), comin a whisper; upon the advice of my surgeon, I retired from the field, the command
then devolved upon my Lieutenant-Colonel, whose report I here enclose.
It would be impossible for me to single out individual cases of courage, where all of
my officers and men behaved with such gallantry and discretion. The trophies they
took from  the enemy speak more eloquently for their actions than any words I
might use.
"For able and gallant assistance I owe much to my field officers, their coolness
and bravery in manueuvering the men saved much loss of life, confusion and panic. I
regret to announce, by the loss of Lieutenant George Burdan, the loss of a brave and
efficient officer. My loss in killed, wounded and missing was. one hundred and fiftythree, an official list of Wvhich I enclose: Killed, 6; wounded, 44; missing, 3.
"Louis R. FRANCINE,
" Colonel Seventh New Jersey Volunteers."
To the above, Lieutenant-Colonel Price adds the following report of the Seventh,
after being left in command:
" The regiment was at a halt, waiting for ammunition, when, finding the regiment,
(of the Twelfth Corps,) who had relieved us, falling back, I commanded that we should
charge the woods again. We went through the woods nearly to the plank road on our
right.  Our ammunition being nearly exhausted, the regiment halted.  A regiment
came up of our troops to hold our place. I retired in good order, until this regiment
broke through our ranks. I rallied the regiment on the crest of the hill. The regiment then retired in good order to the top of the hill, where we charged to the church
on the left. We then rallied and formed in line, immediately behind the batteries that
were placed in the earthworks. We remained in this position until the batteries were
taken from the field. We then retired to the next line of batteries, which were posted
on top of the hill. We remained there until the batteries left their position. During
this time, I lost Captain Daniel Hart, of Company E, and Second Lieutenant Richard
Cooper, of Company F, who had acted very bravely, and had done everything in their
power to assist me in rallying the men. After the batteries had left, we retired to the
Chancellor House, where I found my brigade commander, who Ireported to. Nothing
of any note occurred after this; no casualties occurred, no movement took place, until
we left the field on the 6th of May.
"I cannot close without making mention of Major Frederick Cooper, who, although
suffering from a severe attack of rheumatism, staid with the regiment and did all in
his power, both to rally and encourage the men.
"I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"FRANCIS PRICE, JR.,
"Lieutenant-Colonel Seventh New Jersey Volunteers."




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                           157
manded  by General Sickles, occupied  the left of our line, the
Second Brigade being posted as a reserve to two other brigades of
the division.  On the afternoon of the 2d, the enemy opened upon
this position, but was silenced by our batteries; subsequently,
however, charging with infantry in heavy columns and with great
impetuosity.  But he was met with a determination  equal to his
own, and  finally repulsed, though the brigade was throughout
subjected to a terrible fire of musketry and artillery. A second
time, however, being reinforced, the rebels advanced, when, being
greatly outnumbered, our men fell back.  At this juncture, Seeley's
Battery, Company K, regulars, was brought up and  placed  in
position, supported  at first by another and  later by  the Fifth
Regiment, lying on the side of the road directly in front. The
enemy at once brought his guns to bear so as to rake the road,
the infantry fire being simultaneously renewed.  In the face, however, of this tempest of battle-hail the Fifth Regiment held its
position for a time, but other regiments giving way, it was also
ultimately compelled to fall back with the battery, Colonel Sewell
and  acting  Major Healey, of the Fifth, being badly wounded,
while  Colonel Francine  and  Lieutenant-Colonel Price, of the
Seventh, with many other officers, sustained serious hurts.  On the
following day, the brigade was again engaged, but did not suffer
seriously.  Its losses in this engagement, in the Jersey regiments,
were two hundred and ninety-six.  The Fifth  and Seventh Regiments suffered most severely."   The total loss, including  the
12 The loss in each regiment was as follows: Fifth, killed 13; wounded 65; missing
16. Sixth, killed 1; wounded 32; missing 8. Seventh, killed 15; wounded 86; missing 13. Eighth, killed 7; wounded 38; missing 2.
The following shows the operations of the Fifth Regiment in this battle:
"The regiment had been on picket during the niglt of the 1st instant, about one
mile and a-half from Emmettsburg, on the road leading from that place to Hagerstown.
At two o'clock, a. m., the pickets were called in; and the regiment joined the brigade,
and at daybreak marched with the brigade towards Gettysburg, reaching the battlefield at about ten o'clock, a. m. From that time until four o'clock, p. m., the regiment, in common with the rest of the brigade, changed its position several times, the
most of the time under a heavy fire of artillery from the enemy's batteries, which had
taken position on the left of the Emmettsburg road. The casualties in the regiment
up to this time were few. At about four o'clock, p. m., the regiment was ordered to
relieve another regiment in support of battery K, (Captain Seeley's,) Fourth United
States Artillery, which was in position near the Emmettsburg road, just south of the




158                NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Pennsylvania and New Hampshire regiments, amounted to five
hundred and thirteen.'apple orchard.' We took this position, moving by the right flank at the double-quick.
In order to occupy the front assigned the regiment, it had to be deployed as skirmishcrs, thus forming rather a singular line for the protection of a battery of six guns. At
this point the rebel artillery fire was very severe and effective, one battery pouring an
enfilading fire, principally of spherical case, immediately up the road. Very soon after
we arrived on the road, another or more than one'ebel battery opened upon us from
the woods at our left and front. Captain Seeley's battery then became engaged, a
battery to our right soon after, and one to our left facing south down the road, which
had been engaged before we arrived. This artillery fire was kept up very rapidly for
an hour or more, our regiment all the time losing men, the most of them, however,
being but slightly wounded by the spherical case. During all this time there was no
infantry firing on our part of the line. At about five o'clock, however, the skirmishers in our front (the First United States Sharpshooters) were driven in, and immediately after a dense line of the enemy's infantry was seen advancing over a knoll, about
six hundred yards distant, to our left and front; and as this line advanced, the infantry
on both sides became engaged. The carnage at this time was fearful. The regiment
to our left, however, was soon compelled to fall back, and our regiment, small as it
was and deployed over so large a front, could offer but little resistance to the rebel
lines of battle. Secley's Battery, which we felt to be our special care, was also compelled to fall back. The regiment was collected around the pieces of the battery, and
it and the battery in retreat. This was kept up until another line of ours was reached,
near the position first occupied by our brigade in the morning, and about one hundred
yards from our position on the road. During this retrograde movement, we lost many
men, and it was at this time that Colonel Sewell, our gallant leader, was severely
wounded by a musket ball in the thigh.  Captain Healy, acting Major, was also
wounded by a shell in the hand and thigh. Before leaving the road, I had been slightly
wounded in the head by a musket ball, and had left the field.
"The regiment was now left under command of Captain Godfrey, and reinforcements
arriving from the Fifth Corps, was withdrawn from the field; that night the regiment
bivouacked near the stream in the rear of the battle-ground. On the morning of the
3d, I rejoined the regiment and took command.
" During the day we were under fire several times, but met with no casualties, the
loss on the 2d inst., was nearly fifty per cent. of the whole number engaged.
"We believe that our regiment assisted materially in gaining the victory over the
invading rebel army, and have added something to the reputation already won on many
hard-fought fields; every officer and man was in his place and did his duty.
"H. H. WOOLSEY,
"Captain Fifth New Jersey Volunteers,
"Commanding Regiment."
A note from Colonel Burling says of the operations of the brigade at this time:
*"We arrived on the field of Gettysburg July 2d, early in the morning. The day
before I was left at Emmettsburg with the brigade and Smith's Battery to guard the
Hagerstown road. July 1st, at one o'clock, a. m., I received orders from General
Meade to immediately join the corps at Gettysburg, which I complied with.  The
brigade was detached from our division and ordered to report to General Birney, commanding the First Division. In compliance with orders, I sent the Fifth New Jersey
Volunteers to skirmish in front of our division, and the Seventh New Jersey and
Second New Hampshire to support General Graham in the Peach Orchard. With the
Sixth and Eighth New Jersey and One Hundred and Fifteenth Pennsylvania we connected De Trobiand's and Ward's Brigades of the First Division of our corps, and
charged across a wheat field, clearing it of the enemy. I then sent the Sixth New




THE SECOND  BRIGADE.                             159
Upon the retreat of Lee across the Potomac into the Shenandoah
Valley, the Second  Brigade proceeded  to Bealton, where it went
into  camp, and  was rejoined  by  General Mott on the 29th  of
August.'   From   this time  forward  until early in  October, the
Jersey to a ledge of rocks called the Devil's Den. Eventually we were all driven back
from this advanced position.  The next day the brigade was massed in support of
batteries, when our losses were compartively light."
13 The operations of the brigade, in the interval between the battle of Gettysburg
and its arrival at Warrenton, July 26th, are thus stated in the official report:
"Sunday, July 5th, we received orders to be ready to move on short notice. Monday morning we started after the fleeing enemy, but after a very short march, returned
to our starting point. Tuesday, we started at three o'clock, a. m., and marched
through Emmittsburg, and reached Mechanicsville near sunset. Bivouacked for the
night. Resumed the march at daylight, passing through Frederick, and bivouacked
on the Middletown Pike, one mile out, at ten o'clock, p. m. Started at four o'clock,
a. m. Marched through Middletown, reaching New Baltimore about noon, where we
halted until near dark, resuming the march again, and halted about midnight in South
Mountain Pass. Started again at 7 o'clock, a. m., passing through Readysville, and
crossed Antietam Creek, and halted until ten o'clock, p. m. Resumed the march, recrossed the creek, and bivouacked for the night near Boolsville.  Marched at six
o'clock, a. m., a short distance where the Third Corps was massed, in rear of one ot
the bridges crossing Antietam Creek, in reserve. Starting again at four o'clock, p. m.,
crossing the Antietam and marching about three miles to the right, and bivouacked
for the night.
"Sunday, 12th, received orders that the General Commanding would attack the
enemy. About noon, we moved to the left, and massed in the woods, about one mile
and a half in rear of Marsh Creek. Here we bivouacked for the night; remained in
this bivouac until Tuesday, the 14th. Started at Ave o'clock, a. m., to occupy ground
vacated by a division of the Twelfth Corps, which had advanced to reconnoiter the
enemy's position. As they advanced, we followedwithin supporting distance. Itbeing
discovered that the enemy had crossed the Potomac, we bivouacked for the night.
The following morning, we resumed the march at daylight, passing through Fairplay
and Sharpsburg, crossing the Antietam over Burnside's bridge, marching about half a
mile, and bivouacked for the night. Marched at six o'clock, a. m., the next morning,
(Thursday,) to within three miles of Harper's Ferry, and remained until the next afternoon. Resumed the march at four o'clock, crossing the Potomac and Shenandoah, at
Harper's Ferry. Marched one and a half miles towards Hillsboro' and bivouacked for
the night; started at six o'clock, a. m., and reached Hillsboro' about noon; stayed here
all night; starting in the morning at eight o'clock, and marched within five miles of
Snicker's Gap, bivouacking for the night; starting in the morning at four o'clock, a.
m., and reached Upperville about three o'clock, p. m. Remained here guarding Ashby's
Gap until noon of Wednesday, July 22d, when we resumed the march, and reached
Piedmont Station, on the Manassas Gap Railroad, about one o'clock, p. m. At a late
hour that night I was ordered to be ready to move the brigade with the division at four
o'clock, a. m., July 23d, to support the first division of this corps. We reached Linden Station in Manassas Gap near noon of the 23d. I was here ordered to detail a regiment to support a battery on the heights commanding Chester Gap road; the Seventh
New Jersey Volunteers were detailed in compliance with that order. I will here state
that at the time of our leaving Upperville the Sixth New Jersey Volunteers was detailed
to guard the wagon train, leaving me with four (4) small regiments, numbering not
more than five hundred and fifty (550) muskets. We advanced in column of division
closed in mass, changing our position from the right to the left side of the main road




160               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
brigade was not actively engaged. Participating, however, in the
movements along the Rapidan, which culminated in the withdrawal
of our army to the north bank  of the Rappahannock, and subsequently to the vicinity of the Bull Run battle-field. It retired with
its division, on the 13th of October, to Centreville, whence it was
dispatched'to guard McLean's Ford on Bull Run, some two miles
above Union Mills, where the enemy was suspected of a desire to
cross with  a view of flanking  our position.  This suspicion was
soon realized.  On  the  afternoon  of the  15th, a large body of
cavalry appeared in front of Mott's position, and dismounting a part
of his men attempted to drive in our pickets, but was for a time
unsuccessful, subsequently, however, the rebels being reinforced,
the pickets retired to the north  side of the river, whereupon the
enemy  charged  down  to the ford, under cover of artillery, with
both cavalry and infantry, and taking position in some old rifle
pits, opened a murderous fire upon the gallant Jerseymen. But
leading to Front Royal, and rising a high ridge which had been carried by the first division. I was now ordered forward by General Prince to support the Second Brigade of
our division, which had charged and was driving the enemy. The column was immediately put in motion and deployed while advancing, and continued to advance in line
of battle to a crest of a hill within easy supporting distance of the Second Brigade,
where, by General Prince in person, we were ordered to halt. While in this position
the enemy opened a slight artillery fire Which wounded two men. We remained in this
position all night, the men laying on their arms. Early the next morning, I was ordered
to advance, leading the division column, the Second New Hampshire Volunteers
were deployed as skirmishers on the right and left of the road, the One Hundred and
Fifteenth Pennsylvania and Eighth New Jersey Volunteers supported the right, and
the Fifth New Jersey Volunteers the left of the skirmishers. In this order we pressed
the distance of three miles to Front Royal, the enemy falling back slowly before us.
In approaching Front Royal the line of skirmishers and supports passed over a steep
mountain, densely wooded, and with thick undergrowth. After a short stay at Front
Royal, I was ordered by General Prince to withdraw my skirmishers and march to the
rear by the flank, the object we came for being accomplished.
At Markham Station we bivouacked for the night, and next day marched to seven
miles from Warrenton. It was extremely gratifying to me to observe the promptness
that both officers and men evinced in overcoming the difficulties of the advance, the
weather being extremely warm, and the ground very uneven, and covered in many
places with a thick undergrowth almost impassable for man or beast.
I feel indebted to Captain F. W. Eayre, Assistant-Adjutant-General, Lieutenant Culver, A. A. I. G., and Lieutenant Thompson, A. D. C., for their promptness in communicating my orders on the field.
Sunday, July 26th, started at five o'clock, a. m., and reached Warrenton at eleven
o'clock, a. m., where we went into camp.
Very respectfully submitted,
GEORGE C. B.URLING,
Colonel Sixth New Jersey Volunteers, Commanding Brigade."




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                             161
the latter had participated in too many hard-fought battles to shrink
from  such an  assault.  While one detachment returned the fire of
the rebels, another, with shovels, threw  up a temporary cover, and
thus affording our skirmishers some protection, the fight went on
vigorously, until Robinson's Battery and a section of Seeley's being
put in position, the enemy's guns were silenced.  The skirmishers
of the two forces in this brilliant affair were scarcely one hundred
yards apart, only the waters of Bull Run flowing between them, and
on either side of which they lay concealed behind ridges of earth,
showing themselves only to give and receive the leaden compliments. Towards evening the enemy retired, and our men. crossing
the stream, took possession of both banks. The total loss of the
brigade amounted to twenty-nine men, while the enemy lost some
sixty in killed and wounded."   The defence of the ford was directed
14 A correspondent of the New York HIerald, writing at the time, said: "A Union
corporal was caught on the western bank of the river when the rebels advanced, but
managed to make his escape from the enemy, immediately on the close of the skirmish.
He reports the rebel loss about sixty in killed and wounded, including a colonel."
The same writer adds: "General Mott behaved with coolness and courage, and so
soon as the enemy withdrewv, threw his men across the river, and would have pursued
had the opportunity been given him."
The official statement of our losses is as follows: " Fifth Regiment, 1 killed and 7
wounded; Sixth, killed, -, 8 wounded, 3 missing; Seventh, 5 wounded; Eighth,'3
wounded; One Hundred and Fifteenth Pennsylvania, 2 wounded.
General Mott's report of the action of his brigade in this affair is as follows:
"After leaving Centreville with the division, on the morning of the 15th, I was
ordered by an aid of General Prince to proceed with my brigade and a section of Seeley's
Battery to McLean's Ford, and to hold it should the enemy attempt crossing at that
place. I immediately proceeded there, and ordered Colonel Burling, Sixth New Jersey
Volunteers, with his regiment, to take possession of some old rifle pits on the north
side of said ford, and to throw out pickets well in front on the opposite side of Bull
Run stream. I was informed that General Warren, commanding the Second Corps,
would connect with my pickets on the right, and General Carr, commanding Third
Division, Third Corps, on my left. The commnnication was not entirely made when
a column of the enemy's cavalry, at half-past two o'clock, p. m., was seen debouching
from the woods, in the direction of Manassas Junction, into a large plain immediately
in my front. - He immediately dismounted a part of his men and attempted to drivt
in my pickets, whom I strengthened from the Sixth New Jersey, and ordered the One
Hundred and Fifteenth Pennsylvania to support them, and repulsed his skirmishers,
which were soon reinforced and again advanced on my pickets, who, as I had ordered,
retired to the rifle pits on the north side of the river. The enemy now brought up a
battery of artillery and opened a very sharp and accurate fire, not only on the Sixth New
Jersey Volunteers and One Hundred and Fifteenth Pennsylvania, occupying the rifle
pits, but on the balance of my brigade, which was posted on the high ground and on
the right and left of the road leading to the ford. The dismounted men, now in
c onsiderable force, came on with their own peculiar yell, and charged to the brink of
t he stream, expecting to carry the ford, but that and a number of similar charges
21




162               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
throughout by General Mott, and was admirable and efficient in
the highest degree.
The brigade subsequent to this action participated in all the
movements of the corps up to the close of the year, but was not
again engaged-finally going into winter quarters at Brandy Station. 1
were repulsed handsomely by my men in the rifle pits, assisted by a detachment from
the Fifth New Jersey Volunteers that were occupying a small earthwork a little to my
right of the ford (all under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Gilkyson, Sixth New
Jersey Volunteers), with considerable loss to the enemy and but slight to my command. I ordered Lieutenant Smith, commanding a section of Seeley's Battery, to
open with grape, shell, or whatever he had that would be most effective in repulsing
the advance of the enemy, when to my surprise, he started to leave with his guns,
giving as a reason that he was afraid of losing them. As my whole brigade and the
Bull Run river were between the enemy and him, I did not think that the danger was
imminent. I, therefore, repeated the order, when he fired but two or three rounds,
and again limbered up for the purpose of leaving. About this time a section of
Robinson's Battery (Fourth Maine,) reported, so 1 allowed Lieutenant Smith to leave
with his section.  The conduct of this officer, to say the least, was very strange.
Upon inquiry, I am informed that it was the first time he had had a separate command,
that he was a young officer, and has formerly conducted himself gallantly, and I hope
by passing this over, he will prove by his future actions that there was an error in
judgment and not a willful disobedience of orders. When the section of Robinson's
Battery reported, it was so short of men that I had to detail some of my infantry to
hold the horses and put the drivers to working the guns. There being no officer with
the section, Captain J. M. Crawford, A. A. D. C., took command, and got one of the
guns to work, which did considerable execution. I was informed that the sergeant
who started in command, and was ordered to report to me, was wounded on the way.
Captain Randolph now reported to me that the balance of Captain Robinson's Battery
had arrived, which he had posted to my left, and also took the section with him. The
men in the rifle pits had now nearly exhausted their ammunition, and I relieved them
with portions of the Fifth and Eighth New Jersey Volunteers, which was successfully
done without losing a man, although under a sharp musketry fire. The action lasted
about two hours, then the enemy withdrew with a loss (as I afterwards learned,) of
some sixty killed and wounded, and with a portion of his artillery disabled —tt latter
showing that Captain Robinson did good service with his battery. At about seven
o'clock, p. m., the One Hundred and Fifty-first New York Volunteers, LieutenantColonel Bowers, reported to me with about three hundred and fifty men (350). I placed
him on the left of the road leading to the ford; and although under a heavy artillery fire
for a short time, I am happy to state, met with no casualties. The officers and men
of my brigade behaved with their accustomed gallantry, and well sustained their hard
earned reputation, and gave the enemy their usual greeting.  My command can
hardly be called a brigade, although consisting of five (5) regiments. The field return
showed, on the morning of the action, but six hundred and ninety-one (691) muskets,
but I have the consolation of knowing that the numbers that have been lost are nobly
accounted for."
15 During the winter, Colonel Burling, of the Sixth Regiment, was obliged to quit
the service, with which he had been connected from the start-having entered the
three months' service in command of a company from Burlington; and, after serving
for that term, joined the Sixth (three years') Regiment as Captain, serving in that
capacity until March, 1862, when he was made Major of the regiment, continuing as




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                           163
On the 3d of May, General Grant, who had succeeded to the
command of all our armies, having completed his preparations for
a summer campaign, ordered an advance towards the Wilderness, a
densely-wooded tract of table land, stretching southward from the
Rapidan nearly to Spottsylvania Court House.  The Second Corps,
with which the Second BrigadeG was now identified, crossed the
river at Ely's Ford, and moved straight on  to  Chancellorsville,
where it arrived on the 5th, scarcely a shot having been fired.
Meanwhile the other corps were brought into  position, and  the
enemy took up a line parallel with our advance. On the 5th, the
Fifth Corps, under Warren, was heavily assailed by a large force
of the enemy, the Sixth Corps being at the same time attacked by
another force under Ewell, and a stubborn battle ensued, night
closing upon the field. Meanwhile, the Second Brigade had been
advanced to an elevated position on the Brock road, which extends
to the east towards the Spottsylvania and Fredericksburg road,
where breastworks were hastily thrown up-two regiments, however-the Fifth and Eighth New  Jersey, under command of Colonel William J. Sewell-moving up the road to its junction with
what is known as the Furnace road, where Sewell was placed in
command of the skirmish line.  From  this position, an advance
was presently ordered, and the men dashed impetuously over the
breastworks, eager to engage the foe. At this point, however, as
elsewhere upon the field, so dense was the undergrowth that it was
such until about the 1st of June, when he was commissioned as Lieutenant-Colonel.
He commanded the regiment (Colonel Mott being wounded,) during part of the Pope
campaign, and subsequently, Mott being made Brigadier-General, was promoted to
the Colonelcy.  In the Chancellorsville campaign, (as also at Williamsburg and the
second Bull Run,) he was wounded, but not seriously, rejoining the command after a
brief absence, and, as senior Colonel, taking command of the brigade. He then participated in the Gettysburg campaign, and later in the year performed arduous service,
in charge of a detached command in the vicinity of Culpepper. Some months later,
his health failing, he was medically advised to quit the service, and accordingly, with
some reluctance, he sent in his resignation, which was accepted March 4, 1864. He
was warmly esteemed by both officers and men, and was the recipient, after leaving
the service, of a handsome testimonial of their regard.
VG General Mott was now in command of the division, and Colonel McAllister of
the brigade, which at this time was known as the Third Brigade, of the Third Division,
and included the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Eleventh New Jersey, the First
and Sixteenth Massachusetts, and the One Hundred and Fifteenth Pennsylvania Regiments.




164              NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
found impossible for the troops to maintain their alignment, so
that, when coming into line of battle, owing to the pressure from
the Sixth Corps on the right and the Excelsior Brigade on the left,
there was not sufficient room to form a line in two ranks-causing
for a time considerable embarrassment and difficulty. The movement, however, continued, the line of battle presently passing over
the skirmish line and opening fire, which was promptly returned.
At this moment, unaccountably as it seems, the left of the line suddenly gave way, and the confusion  becoming general, regiment
after regiment fell back, all efforts to rally them short of the breastworks being ineffectual."  The enemy, however, did not advance,
and the corps held its position during the night.
At five o'clock on the morning of the 6th, six regiments of the
brigade" again advanced, three regiments, the Fifth, Sixth  and
Eleventh New  Jersey, being placed under Colonel Sewell.  The
men were soon in position, the regiments under Sewell skirmishing
briskly as they moved into an open space in Ward's Brigade, which
had become divided, leaving two of its regiments on Sewell's left.
Steadily the line advanced, pushing: the enemy back, and taking
many prisoners.  About ten o'clcck, the firing on this part of the
line ceased for a time, and the men obtained a brief rest, but towards
noon, having received reinforcements, the enemy again opened on
the left and rear of the brigade. Being thus flanked, Colonel McAllister changed his line so as to face the enemy, and a body of
troops in his front giving way, he became speedily and actively
engaged, delivering volley after volley into the rebel ranks.  Again,
however, the enemy flanked his left, and being exposed to a fire in
17 General McAllistcr's official report of this battle says: "It is impossible to assign
any cause for this panic, unless it was the fact that a large number of the troops were
about to leave the service. * * * In the advance, the Eighth New Jersey was on
my right, and in coming up found themselves in the rear of the left regiment of the
Sixth Corps, who were engaging the enemy. The men of the Eighth laid down, but
soon the troops in front gave way, and the Eighth received the fire from the enemy.
The Fifth, on its left, then gave way and carried back with it a part of the Eighth,
leaving Captain Steele, with a small portion of the regiment and the colors. Hie was
afterwards relieved by Brigadier-General Ward, and deserves notice for his gallantry.
The loss in this regiment was heavy."
is The Eighth New Jersey, Twenty-Sixth Pennsylvania, and Sixteenth Massachusetts,
were at that time detailed from the brigade and in the rear.




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                     165
the front, on the left flank and rear, he ordered the troops to fall
back to another line. Here again, however, they were taken in
flank by a withering fire, and after fighting desperately for a time
to hold the position, the men yielded, still contending every inch
of the way, and retired to the breastworks, where the brigade was
re-formed under shelter of the works and abattis.  The fighting up
to this time had been of the most furious character, the enemy
throwing  his heaviest masses of troops against the corps, and
displaying a courage amounting almost to madness in his desire
to break our lines and obtain possession of the road. But our
veterans were equally resolute, equally courageous, and only when
overwhelmed by superior numbers, fell back, fighting grimly as
they went, to their original line.  Here, upon the re-formation,
Colonel McAllister, addressing his men, told them they must hold
the line-the second-at whatever cost; and bravely did they respond, when, as the enemy at a later hour again advanced and our
first line presently gave way, they received the full shock of the
assault. Not a man in the brigade faltered or fell back; but standing in solid ranks, firing with deliberate aim and unceasing activity,
they held sternly in check the menacing columns. So rapid and
destructive was their fire that the enemy found it utterly impossible
to.hold the first line of works to which he had advanced. One
of the finest charges of the day was made at this time when the
Sixteenth Massachusetts and Eleventh New  Jersey  Regiments
swept resistlessly across the intervening field and took possession of
the works which the enemy had vainly endeavored to secure.
Shortly after this charge, Colonel McAllister's horse was killed, and
he was injured by a spent ball which paralyzed his leg, and compelled him to retire for a time from the field. The fighting on the
left, however, was over for the day, and our exhausted forces rested
substantially on the ground they had held in the morning. On the
following cay, when Colonel McAllister again took command of
the brigade, it was not engaged, merely shifting its position to
another point on the Brock road.'9  On the 8th, it moved to a
19 In a letter to the writer, Lieutenant-Colonel Schoonover says, in reference to this
engagement: " None who passed through the battle of the Wilderness will ever forget




166              NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
position  near Todd's tavern, where  it remained until the 10th,
when, our army having cleared the Wilderness and concentrated
around Spottsylvania Court House, it advanced to a position on our
right, and late in the day moved to the assault. At this time, the
brigade was in the front line, and the Sixth New Jersey acted as
skirmishers.  Moving through the woods, it drove back the enemy's
skirmishers towards their works; but on reaching the open field,
the rebels opened their batteries, enfilading our lines and causing a
portion of the line to fall back and take position at the foot of a
hill, where pickets were thrown out and our forces remained for
the night.  The following day was comparatively quiet.  At nightfall, the corps was ordered to move silently to the left, where it
took position between Wright and Burnside.  At dawn of day,
(12th,) under orders from  Grant, the corps moved swiftly, in two
lines, upon the enemy, the Jersey Brigade being in the second line.
Before them was a salient angle of earthworks, held by a division
of Ewell's Corps. Swiftly, grandly sweeping over the intervening
space-a distance of some one thousand two hundred yards, rugged
and thickly-wooded-the assailants dashed  with  "a thundering
cheer" over the front and flank of the enemy's works, surprising
and overwhelming the rebels in their trenches, and capturing thirty
guns, with some three thousand prisoners, including two Generals
and fifty line and field officers, who were secured and sent to the
rear. In this heroic charge, the Second Brigade behaved with the
greatest gallantry. In the advance the first line, so rapid was the
movement, parted in the open field, leaving an open space into
which  McAllister pushed his brigade, who promptly moving forit. On the night of the 7th, I was picket officer for the division; and this night's
duty was one of the most unpleasant I ever performed in the army. To establish a
picket line at night, in an almost impenetrable wilderness, Would be at any time a
difficult task, but in addition to this it lay through the battle-ground of the previous
day, and in many places the bodies of the dead strewed the ground so thickly that it
was difficult to guide my horse among them. At this point, which was on the right
of the plank road, the two lines fought with a small stream between them, and on the
brow of the hill on one side the rebel dead lay in a perfect line, for at least two hundred yards, so closely as to enable a person to step from one to another for the entire
distance."
This extract shows the severity of the contest on other parts of the line, as well as
on that held by the Jersey Brigade.




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                             167
ward, shared in the glory of driving the enemy from his works and
joining in the pursuit, until, rallying his forces, he took the offensive, and compelled our troops to fall back to the captured works.
Here the brigade aided in hauling off the captured guns, some of
the men at one time turning two of the pieces upon the enemy who
showed a disposition to advance.
The enemy of course could not afford to be defeated at this
juncture; failure at this point would have been annihilation; and as
soon as the surprise was over, he rallied to the assault, fighting with
tremendous determination to regain the lost works. For hours the
fight raged with unexampled fury, the men fighting hand to hand,
with their hostile flags sometimes planted on opposite sides of the
same breastwork.  Again and again the enemy dashed against our
our solid columns, and again and again was repelled with frightful
carnage.  Night came down with its gloom, but still the fight went
on, nor was it until after midnight that Lee desisted and left the
victors in possession of the works.
The behavior of the New Jersey regiments in this terrible battle
was superb.'l  For fourteen hours they stood the very brunt of the
20 " Captain H. D. Crane, Seventh New Jersey, with a squad of his men, succeeded
in removing and manning one of these guns. Adjutant C. F. Moore and Lieutenant
S. T. Note, with a squad of men from the Sixth New Jersey, brought back and manned
another steel gun, which private Page, of the Eleventh, efficiently helped to work.
Two brass pieces were also brought back by other parties from my command. Great
credit is due these officers and men for their gallantry. Captain William J. Evans, of
the Seventh New Jersey, lost his life while thus engaged.  He worked heroically
throughout."-Colonel McAllister's Report.
21 Lieutenant-Colonel Schoonover, in reference to the steadiness of the Eleventh Regiment, says: " On the 10th, when the division was repulsed in making a demonstration
against the enemy's works, a portion of the Eleventh Regiment were the only troops
rallied, and with these I established a picket line, where we remained until the next
day, when we were joined by the Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania, and a demonstration
against the enemy's sharpshooters was made, resulting in the loss of a number of men,
and Lieutenant Savage severely wounded." In the same letter, speaking of the fight
at the salient point, of which no full account has ever been given, the writer says:
"After the enemy's first line was carried in the morning, our troops were repulsed
from a second, running nearly at right angles to the first, and fell back behind the
captured line, the reverse side of which gave so little protection, and was so completely
covered by the enemy's second line, that our troops were forced to yield it on the
right, and move farther to the left. The enemy at once took possession, occupying
the same line of works, and succeeded in extending their line until their right reached
the point where their artillery was captured in the morning, and here their flank was
well protected by traverses, and we were in great danger of losing the entire position,
but, fortunately, just at this point there was a hollow extending out from the works,




168                NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
storm, never yielding an inch or losing heart in their work. All
around them  the slaughter was terrible, but they remained unappalled.  The rebel dead were piled in  heaps on their side of the
works, presenting a spectacle of horror almost without parallel.
Among the dead were many wounded, writhing under the bloody
heaps. On McAllister's immediate front, where the enemy repeatedly threw forward his massed columns to break our lines, a tree
measuring twenty-six inches in diameter was (it is said) cut down
by musket and rifle balls-a fact which  shows better than  any
description the intensity of the fire. The Eleventh Regiment suffered heavily in the battle, Captain Sleeper and Lieutenant Egan being among the killed.  The loss in killed  and  wounded in the
brigade was seven hundred, not including prisoners and stragglers.2
and here, by great exertion, a line was formed nearly at right angles to the captured
line, and a fire opened over the works before the enemy took full possession. The
point was saved. The enemy had'possession of the works, but the constant fire over
the top, which we delivered from the brow of the hill, made it certain death for them
to show their heads. Yet scores of them, either ignorant of our position, or overanxious to single out an officer, would raise their heads above the works and fall back
dead men. A great portion of their firing was at random over the works, and from
these random shots we suffered most, as they were generally high, striking our men
in the head and inflicting fatal wounds. It was by these shots that Captain Evans, of
the Seventh New Jersey, and General Mott's Assistant Adjutant-General, were killed.
All day long we tried to dislodge them from these strong works, but without success.
Our only safety was to keep up a constant fire over the top of the works, and it was
kept up without cessation. The rebels were protected by strong traverses on their
side of the works, but we could only hold our position by a constant fire to keep them
down. Relief after relief was brought up, and ammunition by the wagon load was
disposed of. I do not believe that less than one hundred thousand rounds of cartridges were fired at this one point, during the day and night. The trees in front that
received the fire were completely stripped of their foliage, from top to bottom. It
looked as though an army of locusts had passed through.
" It was here that the tree was said to have been shot off with bullets, but I am inclined to believe that it was first badly shattered with a cannon ball. The firing was
kept up until midnight, when it is believed the enemy evacuated the position. I
visited the ground early the next morning, and within a space of fifty yards, two hundred and fifty rebels lay dead and dying, most of them shot in the head. A short
distance from the works lay two Colonels, with their horses near them, and close by
an abandoned rebel flag was picked up.
"About ninety of our own men lay dead along the brow of the hill, or along the
works, where the almost hand-to-hand fight took place. Nearly all were shot in the
head.
" I do not think the history of the war presents another fight of this same character,
and one of which there is so little known. Had this little point been given up, the
entire position captured in the morning would have been lost. By holding it, the
whole position was held."
22 Colonel McAllister, in his official report, says of the fight at the salient point: " The




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                            169
This battle, undecisive as it in some respects undoubtedly was,
satisfied both commanders that further immediate fighting would
be useless, and while there were combats here and there during the
succeeding days, no general engagement was brought on, the Union
troops occupying  the  time in burying the dead  and fortifying,
while the enemy sought in vain for a weak point in our lines. On
the 15th, the troops under McAllister, were called out to repel an
assault upon our pickets, which they did, though with some loss,
(twenty in all,) being exposed to an enfilading battery fire as well
as a musketry  attack.  Lieutenant Joseph  C. Baldwin, of the
Eleventh Regiment, who for some time had held a position on the
staff of Colonel McAllister, while sitting with that officer and the
Lieutenant-Colonel, leaning against one of the traverses of the line
of works occupied by the regiment, was struck  on the head by a
shell and instantly killed-the shell then rolling to the feet of his
companions without exploding.  Lieutenant Baldwin, who was a
massed columns of the enemy advanced again and again, and each time were driven
back; but still the battle. raged. Heavy masses of our troops held them in check, determined not to let them gain an inch. Irrespective of commands, the officers present
moved forward troops to hold this point. Having now lost the entrenchments to our
right, we formed a line in an obtuse angle. But line after line melted away before
the enemy's fire, and it seemed almost impossible to hold the crest of the hill. The
Sixteenth Massachusetts Volunteers was ordered, by General Mott, from my left to
this position. They lost heavily, and the brave Lieutenant-Colonel Waldo Merriam,
commanding the regiment, was killed. Much credit is due the officers and men of this
regiment. About this time the brave and gallant F. W. Eayres, A. A. G., of General
Mott's staff, was also killed. Now and then, ammunition would run out-a new supply would be furnished; guns would become foul, when we would order the men back
to wash them out, and then return to fight on. The rain poured down, the mud became almost impassable, and men became exhausted. Night closed on us, but if we
ceased firing for a moment the rebels would advance. The First Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers were now brought on the line to relieve some that were worn down
with fatigue. They fought splendidly until the firing ceased, about three o'clock,
a. m., on the morning of the 13th, after firing several hundred rounds of cartridge to
the man.
" The brigade I had the honor to command, though mingled with others to some
extent, bore a gallant part in this terrible battle. Many of them stood under that
galling fire for fourteen hours. The officers and men present did their duty faithfully.
Lieutenant-Colonel Schoonover, Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers, deserves great
credit, for assisting to get off the artillery, urging men forward, and encouraging them
to stand to their posts-he remaining from the beginning of the contest to its close.
"Had not the utmost exertions, bravery and gallantry been displayed by the officers
and men of the several organizations, we would have lost all that was gained that day.
The cool bravery there displayed by both officers and men, as individuals, surpasses
anything I have ever witnessed in previous contests."
22




170               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
young man of more than ordinary promise, had but a few  weeks
before returned to the field from the burial of his wife, and for some
time had betrayed unusual sobriety of thought, at if the shadow of
his coming doom, being cast before, had touched him  with something of its chill depression. He had been in the service from the
beginning, having volunteered at the first call for troops, and in
every position he had performed his duties with rare fidelity and
efficiency.3 His sudden fall occasioned a deep sensation in his
regiment, and was lamented by hosts of friends in his native State,
who  had  anticipated  for him  a brilliant career of usefulness and
honor.
On  the 16th of May, Colonel McAllister resumed command,
temporarily, of his own regiment, the Eleventh, General Mott
taking the brigade, and the division being incorporated with that of
General Birney.  At that time, the Eleventh Regiment, so heavy had
been its losses, had but one line officer on duty.  On the 23d, having
two days previously moved into position on the rebel flank, at Bowling Green, the corps (under Hancock,) was ordered forward in
pursuit of the enemy, who had retired to the south side of the North
Anna, and taken a new  position admirably calculated for defence.
Advancing to the river at Chesterfield bridge, a division of Longstreet's Corps, occupying both sides of the stream, was found ready
to dispute our passage, btlt after a vigorous fire, they were driven
in disorder from  the redoubt held by them  on the north bank, and
throwing  up  breastworks  our  forces prepared  for  a  decisive
23 In a letter written the day after this sad event, Colonel McAllister says:
"Lieutenant Baldwin was an officer of great promise, and a truer patriot never drew
a sword."  Lieutenant-Colonel Schoonover,'writing of the same affair, says: "Sunday,
May 15th, the third day after the battle of Spottsylvania, was one of the saddest of my
army life. Lieutenant Joseph C. Baldwin, then my acting adjutant, a most estimable
young man and a valuable officer, met with a most sudden death. The line of works
occupied by the regiment on that day was built with traverses, and at that time was
being enfiladed by one of the enemy's batteries. Lieutenant Baldwin and myself were
sitting side by side, leaning against one of the traverses, when a shell forced its way
through between two of the heavy logs, crushed the back of Lieutenant Baldwin's
head, rolled on a few feet and stopped. As my head was leaning against his at the
time, I was for an instant stunned, and I could hardly realize what had taken place
when consciousness returned. At a glance I saw Lieutenant Baldwin dead by my side,
myself covered with blood, and an unexploded shell lying a few feet in my front. The
sudden death of a valued friend, under such circumstances, made an impression which
time cannot easily erase."




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                  171
encounter. During the ensuing night, several efforts to destroy the
bridge were made by the enemy, but all were baffled. At ten
o'clock on the following morning, one hundred men, one-half of
whom were from the Second Brigade, under McAllister, crossing
the river, stormed and carried the redoubt on the south side-this
achievement being promptly followed by the advance of the entire
corps, which established itself in the enemy's works and held them,
notwithstanding repeated attempts to dislodge it. The enemy's
main position, however, being found invulnerable, Grant, on the
26th, ordered a general movement by the flank, the army, after
various manoeuvers, turning southward and taking the road to
Richmond.  After heavy skirmishing along the Tolopotomy, in
which the Second Brigade had an active part, the corps reached
Cold Harbor, where, on June 3d, it participated in the assault upon
the enemy's lines, suffering severely but gaining important advantages as to position. The Eleventh Regiment lost several men in
this engagement, as at other points along the line of advance. On
the 7th, our army having gradually moved from its position, extended its left to the Chickahominy, the brigade going into the
trenches at Baker's Mill, where it remained until the 12th, suffering
a few casualties from  the enemy's shells, but having no general
engagement. From  this point, the corps was shifted across the
Chickahominy on Lee's right, and marching swiftly to the James,
crossed that river on the afternoon of the 14th, and fell into line
for a general assault upon Petersburg.  On the 15th, Smith's Corps
of Butler's army, advancing upon the enemy, carried the outer line
of defences, but did not follow up his advantage.  On the 16th,
therefore, Grant delivered an assault of all his forces, which resulted
in a general advance of our lines, but at a heavy cost of life.
Birney, of Hancock's Corps, stormed and carried the ridge in his
front, McAllister having charge of all the New Jersey regiments
in the first line of the Second Brigade of the division, and the last
line being commanded by General Mott. The fight was a desperate
one, and all the New Jersey troops suffered severely-the Eleventh
Regiment losing forty-four in killed and wounded, out of one
hundred and fifty taken into the fight-Captain Layton, a brave




172             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
and efficient officer, being among the former.  The contest continued
through the night, and in a desultory way during the following
day, the enemy struggling continuously to recover the ground he
had lost.24  Grant, supposing that the enemy in front had not yet
received expected reinforcements, late on the evening of the 17th
ordered another general assault for the 18th, and at dawn the corps
advanced, driving  the  enemy fromn his first line of works and
pursuing him for three-quarters of a mile, when he took possession
of a new and more formidable line, from which he could not be
dislodged, though later in the day a charge was made in front of
the Hare House.  In this advance, our men were exposed to a
scorching fire and hundreds fell along the plains, but the line swept
on, notwithstanding, and for two hours held a position near the
rebel works. In retiring, many wounded were left behind. Still
later in the day another charge was made, in which the Jersey
regiments participated, but this also failed, with heavy loss-the
First Maine Heavy Artillery, who had the advance, losing six
hundred and thirty-two out of nine hundred men.  The conduct
of all the New Jersey troops engaged was excellent.25
From this time forward until the 21st, the contest raged with
more or less fury all along the lines, the belligerents being so
close at times that conversation, in the pauses of the strife, could
be easily carried on.  On the night of the 19th, McAllister advanced his line and gained some advantage, (including the recovery
of most of the wounded and many of the dead,) two regiments of
sharpshooters in his command so annoying the enemy as to prevent his firing with any regularity or precision. This brigade
was under fire continuously, losing some four hundred up to the
20th, that is, in three days. On the 23d, Grant having determined
upon an attempt to turn the enemy's right, the corps was ordered
24 In this movement, and until the 25th, Colonel McAllister commanded the Second
Brigade of the division to which he was attached.
25 " After the Maine Artillery retired the ground was strewn with dead, wounded and
dying; the latter crying,'water, water,' but no relief could be sent them. I have
been told that a flag of truce was asked of General Lee, and that he refused it on the
ground that he lost no men. Hundreds of our wounded thus died in our sight, to
whose pitiful cries we would have most gladly responded, could we have done so."Letter of Colonel McAllister, JTne 19, 1864.




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                   173
to again advance, which it did through a difficult and wooded
country. The Second Brigade had General Barlow on its left; on
his left the Sixth Corps was to take position, but failing to make
the connection, the rebels about noon fell with great force upon
Barlow's Division, and throwing it'into confusion, pushed in on
the flanks of the Second and Third Brigades, rolling them up and
forcing them back with a loss of four guns and many prisonersone brigade alone losing over three hundred in killed, wounded and
prisoners, besides a large quantity of entrenching tools abandoned
to the enemy. The loss of the Eleventh Regiment was twenty-six
in all-Major Halsey being captured. Later in the evening, McAllister was ordered to advance, with a view of recovering the lost
ground, which he did very handsomely, driving the enemy out of
the works he had constructed after his success in the morning,
and holding the position. Next morning, it was found that the
rebels had fallen back to their original line, and our forces advanced
to the works which had been temporarily wrested from them.
Up to this time, the brigade had been constantly employed, with
scarcely a day's relief, either in fighting, marching, or working in
the trenches. For nearly two months it had participated in the
heaviest and most arduous labors of a campaign of unprecedented
severity; it had lost largely in officers and men, had suffered from
exposure and often from want of food; but it was still animated
by the same heroic spirit, the same unfailing confidence which
characterized it when it first marched against the enemy. Remembering the dead who had fallen with their faces to the foe, the
wounded it had left behind, it meant to hold firmly on its way-to
"fight it out on that line"-at whatever cost, and so at once to
avenge the fallen and secure the plaudits of the living. The total
losses of the brigade, during the months of May and June, amounted
to one thousand six hundred and thirty-two men in killed, wounded
and missing, the casualties in the New Jersey regiments numbering
seven hundred and fifty, as follows: Fifth Regiment, one hundred
and sixteen killed, one hundred and nineteen wounded, twenty-two
missing; Sixth Regiment, sixteen killed, ninety-nine wounded,
eight missing; Seventh  Regiment, thirteen  killed, eighty-six




174           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
wounded, fifty-nine missing; Eighth Regiment, fifteen killed, one
hundred and forty wounded, twenty-five missing; Eleventh Regiment, fifteen killed, ninety-seven wounded, twenty missing. Of
the killed, eight were officers, while of the wounded thirty-five
were officers.
The brigade remained in the trenches until the 12th of July,
when it was moved out, and after various unimportant movements,
went into reserve camp, the men being employed in various duties,
pending Burnside's mining operations before Petersburg. On the
26th, the corps was quietly transferred from the extreme left to the
extreme right, across the James River, at Deep Bottom, where it
attacked the enemy, and drove him some distance, capturing four
guns and six caissons. It was then as quietly returned to its former
position before Petersburg, holding the front line of works on our
right when, on the morning of the 30th, Burnside's mine, some
three miles distant, was exploded.  During this day, the Third
Brigade, which rested on the Appommatox River, was exposed to
a heavy fire from the rebel batteries posted opposite, but the men
were so well protected that only eight casualties occurred, three of
which were in the Eleventh. Here it remained until August 12th,
when the corps moved to City Point, embarked and proceeded once
more to Deep Bottom, where on the 14th, Barlow's Division assailed
the rebel works, but without success. On the 16th, another assault
was delivered, General Mott sending in two regiments of the Second
Brigade against the eastern front of the enemy's defences. Of these
regiments, the Eighth New Jersey and Eleventh Massachusetts,
both under direction of Colonel McAllister, the latter was stationed
as a reserve, covered by the crest of a hill, while the former
moved forward as a forlorn hope, the object being to develope the
enemy's strength.2 The gallant Eighth, under command of Colonel
Ramsey, advanced steadily under a deadly cross-fire from the rebels,
who opened all their guns and musketry, but it was soon found
that it would be impossible to reach the works, and the command
26 Colonel McAllister says of this affair: " Colonel Ramsey did much to urge his
men forward under that terrific fire, and great credit is due him and his gallant little
regiment for the bravery thus displayed."




THE SECOND B3RIGADI.                             175
slowly retired.  Under all the circumstances, the advance was one
of the finest of the campaign, the regiment numbering at the time
only one hundred men, of whom  sixteen were lost in this charge.2
27 Extracts from General Mott's Division Report: "In compliance with orders from
Headquarters Second Army Corps, the division broke camp at three o'clock, p. m., and
marched to City Point, arriving at nine o'clock, p. m. The heat was excessive and
the road very dusty. Although I made frequent halts and marched very leisurely, the
command suffered very much, and several cases of sunstroke was reported to me. At
half-past nine o'clock, p. n., of the 13th, commenced to embark on board of transports which occupied until dark, (part of the wharf being occupied by other troops
which were embarking to proceed to Washington.) As the transports were loaded they
proceeded down the river rendezvousing near Light House Point. At ten o'clock,
p. m., the fleet started up the river for Deep Bottom, arriving at one o'clock, a. m.,
of the 14th. After having a wharf built, part of which was a canal boat and part trestle
work, commenced to disembark at two o'clock, a. m., of the 14th, and finished at eight
o'clock, a. m. Massing the division on the bank of the river, having previously thrown
some pickets well out, immediately deployed two (2) regiments as skirmishers to
advance across Strawberry Plain, to see if the enemy occupied the woods in front and
old rifle pits, from which we drove him on a former expedition. We found some
small posts of the enemy in the edge of the woods, but had no difficulty in driving
them back to the woods and occupying the works near what is called the Tavern and
Pottery, on the New Market and Malvern Hill road, followed by the First Brigade
of this division, commanded by General De Trobriand. My skirmish line was again
advanced, under the able command of Colonel E. R. Biles, Ninety-ninth Pennsylvania
Volunteers, who had already led the advance, driving the enemy across the open field
and woods to his main position, under the protection of his main line of works. Here
some considerable skirmishing and demonstrations were carried on until my skirmishers
reached a crest running along a corn-field between the enemy's main line and the New
Market road, the left resting on an impenetrable swamp, and the right connecting
with General Miles' Brigade, of General Barlow's Division. The Second and Third
Brigades massed near the Gate Posts, on the New Market and Malvern Hill road.
About five o'clock, p. m., I received orders to send a brigade to report to General
Barlow. The Third Brigade, Colonel McAllister commanding, was sent in accordance
with said order. Was relieved and returned to my command about daylight on the
morning of the 15th inst. On Monday, 15th, according to instructions from Headquarters Second Army Corps, I ordered the Second Brigade, Colonel Craig, to report
to Major-General Birney to form a part of his force during the operations of the day.
I would respeefully call the attention of the Major-General commanding to the report
of Colonel Pulford, (who assumed command of the brigade after the wounding of
Colonel Craig,) and particularly to the part where he claims to have taken three (3)
commissioned officers and one hundred (100) privates prisoners, although I understand
there is none to his credit; also that, during the time it was absent, it was ordered to
report to no less than three different general officers, and again to the order of MajorGeneral Birney, when said brigade was relieved from his command. I also relieved
the picket line of General Miles' First Division, and moved the Third and First Brigades,
with the exception of the Twentieth Indiana and Fortieth New York, which were left to
hold the breast-works and to protect the extreme left to near the junction of the cross
roads in rear of the line, at the intersection of the New Market and Long Bridge road.
During the day I made several demonstrations so as to draw the enemy's attention to
my front, and prevent his sending reinforcements to his left, where an attack was to be
made by the First Division, (General Barlow.) At seven o'clock, p. m., an order was
received to send a regiment, under a good commander, to the piece of woods nearest
the bridge head, with pickets well out on the Malvern Hill road. The Eleventh New




176               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Further assault at this point-other parts of the line having also
been repulsed-being considered impracticable, though the enemy
Jersey Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel Schoonover, was accordingly sent. On Tuesday,
the 16th, I strengthened my picket line with two more regiments, before daylight,
with instructions to be very watchful, and to make frequent demonstrations to prevent
the enemy reinforcing his left, while an attack was made at that point by Major-General
Birney with the Tenth Corps and a brigade from each division of the Second Corps.
These demonstrations were made frequently during the day. At three o'clock, p. m., I
advanced; the Eighth New Jersey deployed, supported by the Eleventh Massachusetts,
through the woods and into a corn-field on my right, to feel the enemy. They were
received with a hot musketry and shell fiom the enemy's works. After skirmishing
for some forty minutes they were withdrawn with a loss in the Eighth New Jersey of
fifteen (15) killed and wounded. I made a similar demonstration on my left with the
Twentieth Indiana Volunteers, driving in the enemy's pickets, but were soon checked
by the fire from the breast-works of infantry and artillery. Pending this, Captain Ford,
ordnance officer of the division, with a detachment of the Fortieth New York,
secured and brought away one eight (8) inch howitzer and three (3) wagon loads of
ammunition, for which I enclose copy of receipts.  These demonstrations were
materially assisted by a steady shelling of the enemy's position by Rickett's Pennsylvania Battery and one of the gunboats on the river. During the day the regiment
sent to the woods, near the bridge-head, was withdrawn. Remained quiet during
the night. August 17th, at eight o'clock, received word that the brigade sent on the
15th to form part of Major-General Birney's force could be spared from his line. I
immediately dispatched a staff officer to bring it back to the division, where
it arrived about eleven o'clock, a. m.  No active operations during the day,
the enemy, however, showing considerable force along the breast-works, and reinforcing his picket line. Thursday, the 18th, the day had been quiet along my line,
until about five o'clock, p. m., when the enemy opened with artillery on my picket
line, (throwing an occasional shot into the woods where the troops were massed,) and
at the same time making an attempt to advance his pickets. These demonstrations,
twice repeated, were repulsed without difficulty, and were evidently made to keep us
where we were, and to create a diversion while making an attack on the extreme right.
Finding out this, I deployed the balance of the First Brigade near the junction of the
cross-roads of the New Market, Malvern Hill and Long Bridge roads, where the attack was the most persistent. The other two brigades were held in readiness for any
emergency. At twenty minutes past six o'clock, orders were received from Major.
General Hancock to immediately send a regiment to the woods, near the bridge-head,
with pickets well out on the Malvern Hill road. The Eleventh New Jersey was sent
in accordance. Soon after, orders were received from the same source to send the
balance of the brigade to reinforce and hold the position at all hazards. The Third
Brigade, Colonel McAllister, immediately started and took up the position, as ordered.
At twenty minutes before nine o'clock, p. m., received orders from  Headquarters
Second Corps that on being relieved I should proceed with my division to the vicinity
of Petersburg, and report to the Major-General Commanding the Army of the Potomac. At ten o'clock, p. m., crossed the James River on the lower pontoon bridge;
massed on the neck, waiting for my pickets. Resumed the march at one o'clock, a.
m., of the 19th. Crossed the Appomattox at 3 o'clock, a. m., and reported to MajorGeneral Humphreys at seven o'clock, a. m. There received orders to relieve the
Ninth Corps in the entrenchments, which Was accomplished at eleven o'clock, a. m.,
the right resting on the Eighteenth Corps, near and across the Petersburg and Norfolk
Railroad, the left connecting with the pickets of the Fifth Corps, at the Strong House.
I beg respectfully to state that all my officers and men behaved in a commendable
manner. My brigade commanders were active and attentive in carrying out orders,
particularly Brigadier-General De Trobriand, and Colonel McAllister, who deserve




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                          177
vainly endeavored to turn our right, the corps on the 18th returned
to  the  entrenchments before Petersburg, whence two divisions
moved towards the Weldon Railroad.  Here, severe fighting ensued,
and on the 25th, Hancock being hard pressed, Colonel McAllister,
with his command-numbering some seven hundred men, with six
pieces and a few cavalry-was advanced up the plank road towards
Ream's Station, where Hancock was still engaged.  From   this
point, the brigade moved to the Blackwater, under orders from
General Meade, and formed in line of battle.  Hancock, meanwhile,
had been beaten with heavy loss, and compelled to retreat, abandoning the station and a number of guns. Reaching the point occupied by McAllister, Hancock ordered the relieving forces to cover
the retreat, which was done, the corps returning to its old position,
where they engaged in the erection of a new line of works.
The next affair in which the brigade was engaged occurred on
the night of the 9th of September.  At that time, the Second Brigade guarded the Jerusalem  plank road running into Petersburg,
seven hundred men of the command occupying Fort Crawford on
the left of the road. The enemy's picket line occupied the crest of
a hill in front of this and another fort.  This line it was deemed
desirable to push back, and accordingly on the 9th, or rather early
on the morning of the 10th, three regiments of General De Trobriand's Brigade moved forward, McAllister's men being held in
reserve, and without firing  a  shot drove  the  enemy  from  his
positions with a loss of one hundred prisoners.  McAllister then
advanced his picket line, and hastily constructing rifle pits, held
honorable mention as brave and efficient officers. The officers composing my staff
rendered me great assistance, by their promptness and efficiency in carrying out my
orders. Conspicuous among them were Major J. Hancock, Assistant-Adjutant-General, Major J. William, Assistant-Inspector-General, and Captain Beoman, ProvostMarshal. A nominal list of casualties has been forwarded, consisting of one commissioned officer and eighteen enlisted men killed, nine commissioned officers and one
hundred and forty-five enlisted men wounded, and two commissioned officers and
eighty-two enlisted men missing, making an aggregate of two hundred and fifty-seven.
I regret to have to record among this, Colonel C. A. Craig, One Hundred and Fifth
Pennsylvania Volunteers, commanding Second Brigade, and Colonel D. Chaplin, First
Maine Heavy Artillery, both mortally wounded, and have since died.
"Very respectfully,
"G. MOTT."
23




178               NEW  JERSEY  AND  TiE REBELLION.
the ground, though repeatedly assailed, and losing some ten men.
During  the day the enemy  continued  his  fire, causing  twelve
additional casualties.  Among the wounded was Captain  Moorehouse, of the Eleventh. During the following day, the casualties
numbered only two, notwithstanding the fire was almost continuous
-the picket line of the Second Brigade  alone firing seventeen
thousand  rounds  of cartridges.  For several days picket-firing
was steadily  kept up, but without appreciable results on  either
side.28
During the ensuing fortnight the New Jersey regiments were
strengthened by considerable accessions of recruits. On September
2S A correspondent of the Washington Chronicle gave the following account of this
brilliant affair:' For a long time previous to last Friday night, the 9th instant, the rebel picket line
occupied a very unusual and improper position in front of the Third Division of the
Second Corps, now commanded with much ability and popularity by Brigadier-General
Mott. Their line was within a stone's throw of our works, much nearer ours than
their own, while our pickets were forced to remain close under our own lines. In
addition to this, their line ran along the crest of a hill, enabling their pickets to overlook our works and keep the rebel authorities well advised of all that transpired
behind them. In their line were also several chimneys, that could be used as observatories and shields for their sharpshooters.
" Many general officers, including General Hancock, had remarked on the impropriety of the rebel pickets holding this advantageous position, but, as it was held by
a strong picket force and swept by rebel batteries, how to prevent it was a question by
no means easy of solution.
"General Mott and General De Trobriand, who commands the First Brigade, conceived and matured the bold idea of not only getting the coveted position, but also of
capturing their pickets. One o'clock at night was fixed on as the time to execute the
desperate enterprise. General Mott gave it his personal attention and presence, as
usual, assisted by General De Trobriand. It was a complete surprise to the enemy,
and a perfect success to us, reflecting much credit on all concerned. We captured
nearly one hundred men, and still hold the line."
General Mott's report of this affair says:
"I have the honor to report that the officers and men engaged in the operation most
gallantly did their duty, and performed the work entrusted to them in a manner worthy
of their old services and well-earned reputation. Thanks are due to Brigadier-General
De Trobriand, commanding First Brigade, who had- a general supervision of this
delicate movement, and gave it his undivided attention; and to my other brigade and
regimental commanders, who performed their parts to my entire satisfaction. Also, to
the different battery commanders on the line, who fully carried out instructions, and
effectively silenced the guns of the enemy that opened on us. It is with deep regret I
have to report the death of Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Mickel, Twentieth Indiana
Volunteers. He fell on Saturday morning, on the ground wrested by him from the
enemy with marked ability and his usual gallantry, and died with the consoling feeling
of a victory-the most arduous and important part of which was due to his generous
efforts."




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THE SECOND BRIGADE.                             179
30th, the brigadejoined the remainder of the division, under General
Mott, at Poplar Grove Church, in the vicinity of which two or
three small works of the enemy were carried on the following day,
His main line, however, defied assault, and our men withdrew  with
some loss, the Second  Brigade losing twenty-three men in all.29
Here the corps remained until October 6th, assisting in the construction of earthworks, when it returned  to its old position, and
steadily advanced its lines from day to day toward the Southside
Railroad, fortifying both front and rear. ~
29 " In this fight one of my New Jersey sergeants was struck by a cannon ball, which
nearly severed his leg, leaving it united by only a shred of skin. Pulling out his knife,
he coolly cut it off with his own hand! Then, asking if he had not done his duty, he
was carried to the rear, where he died in the evening."-Letter of Colonel McAllister,
October 3d, 1864.
30," The frequent marches and countermarches secured to the brigade the name of'Hancock's Cavalry.' On one of the marches of the Third Division, a spectator asked,'What troops are these?' One of the.'boys' replied:'Why, don't you know,' Hancock's Cavalry. We have jutt stopped for the officers to change horses.'"
General Mott's report of the movements of the division at this time is as follows:
"HEADQUARTERS, THIRD DIvISION, SECOND ARMY CORPS, )
October 8, 1864. 
"I have the honor to forward the report of the movements of this division from
the 1st to the 5th inst., inclusive. Having been relieved from the forts and rifle pits,
extending from Fort Morton to Fort Alexander Hays, during the night before, the
division was massed near trestle bridge, and in the woods in the rear of the Avery
House. About twelve o'clock, m., on the 1st inst., I received orders from the MajorGeneral commanding the Second Corps, that I, with my division, would take the cars
to the Yellow House, or General Warren's Headquarters, there procuring a guide,
would march to the vicinity of the Ninth Corps, reporting to Major-General Parkc.
At one o'clock, p. m., the cars being ready, I commenced to embark, at two points,
viz: Hancock's Station, and near the trestle bridge. There were three trains, and
each train made three trips. The head of the column reported to General Parkc at
half-past two o'clock, p. m.; the rear was up at five o'clock, p. m. I, with my staff,
reported at four o'clock, p. m., having remained to superintend the embarkation.
The march from the railroad terminus to the headquarters of the Ninth Corps was
severe, owing to its raining very hard and the muddy condition of the roads.
" My division was massed in the rear of the Peeble's House, and remained until next
morning. On Sunday, the 2d, having received orders from the Major-General commanding the Ninth Corps, to be in readiness to move at half-past six o'clock, a. m.,
and to report in person at six o'clock, a. m., to his headquarters, my command was
ready at that time, and I reported accordingly.
" The orders I received were to form on the left of General Wilcox's Division of the
Ninth Corps, and to advance with the said division, keeping up the connection on my
right, and to keep a good look out for my left flank. At eight o'clock, a. m., I
deployed the Second Brigade, General Pierce, on the left of General Wilcox"s Division,
with skirmishers well thrown out, followed closely by the Third Brigade, Colonel
McAllister, with instructions to deploy as soon as the movement commenced and the
nature of the ground would admit. First Brigade, General De Trobriand, in reserve,




180               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
On the 27th, the Army of the Potomac, leaving only sufficient
men to hold its works before Petersburg, marched suddenly by the
left against the enemy's works covering Hatcher's Run and the
Boydton plank road.   The Second Corps, advancing on the left,
and finding but a small force to dispute its passage at Hatcher's
Run, pushed forward to the plank road, reaching a point within a
mile of. the Southside Railroad. Here the enemy showed himself
in strong force, and, owing to the failure of General Crawford to
with instructions to throw out flankers, and to leave a regiment at the point where
the roads forked, near the Clements House.  Advancing about three-quarters of a
mile, I came upon a line of the enemy's works, which was carried at once, the enemy
making but little resistance. After taking this line of works, I advanced about a mile,
driving the enemy's skirmishers, when I came upon a secondand strongerline of works.
These works were manned by infantry and artillery. After skirmishing with the enemy
for some little time, I received orders from General Parke to develop the force and
ascertain how much of the enemy were in' the position. I immediately ordered General
Pierce to carry out the order, which he did by advancing the First Massachusetts
Heavy Artillery, One Hundred and Fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, One Hundred and
Forty-first Pennsylvania Volunteers, and the Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania Volunteers,
with the First United States Sharpshooters on the right flank. I also instructed
Colonel McAlllister to move a regiment of his brigade to the left of the position
occupied by the battery, and when the attack was made by General Pierce, to open a
severe fire upon the batteries in order to draw part of the fire and relieve the attacking
column as much as possible. At three o'clock, p. m., the line was ordered forward,
when it charged most gallantly to within a few rods of the works, under a concentrated
fire from muskets and artillery. At ten minutes past three o'clock, p. m., I received
a'communication from Major-General Parke, saying he had just seen Major-General
Meade, who did not wish me to run any great risk, but to take up a line and entrench.
The attacking column was immediately recalled. The casualties in this charge were,
one (1) commissioned officer and four (4) enlisted men killed: five (5) commissioned
officers and forty-four (44) enlisted men wounded.
"At fifteen minutes past five o'clock, I received orders to withdraw to the line of
works near the Clements House, and to occupy said line with pickets well out, which
was done and completed at half-past six o'clock, p. m. On the 3d, 4th and 5th instants, I continued in the same position, furnishing large details to work at the
forts building near the Clements House, Smith's House, and the Poplar Spring Church.
At half-past two o'clock, p. m., received orders to send one brigade to relieve the
troops in the works between Fort Davis and Alexander Hays. The Third Brigade, Colonel McAllister, was accordingly sent. At five o'clock, p. m., the balance of the division was relieved by General Wilcox, First Division of the Ninth Corps, and marched
to the position now occupied, arriving at nine o'clock, p. m.
"The conduct of the officers and men of the division, during these five days' operations, was eminently satisfactory. All behaved well, and carried out my orders
promptly and gallantly. Brigadier-General Pierce, United States Volunteers, deserves
particular mention, as having the immediate charge of the advance, for his promptness and efficiency during the operations of the 2d inst. Annexed is a list of casualties. First Brigade, killed 3; wounded 11; missing 1. Second Brigade, killed 5;
wounded 49; missing 14.  Third Brigade, killed 5; wounded 16; missing 1.  Aggregate, 105."




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                    181
connect, as ordered, with Hancock's right, the position became a
very critical one. Lee promptly took advantage of the opportunity.
Sending in Hill's Corps, it struck Mott's Division a staggering blow,
causing some confusion. At this time only two of Mott's Brigades
had taken position, that under McAllister having been assigned by
General Meade to another part of the field, with orders to report to
General Egan at the extreme front. The two brigades, however,
promptly changed front and fought with great gallantry; finally,
charging upon the enemy, he was handsomely routed, and a battery
lost in the first assault recovered, together with a large number of
prisoners.  Meanwhile, however, the change of position had uncovered McAllister's Brigade, occupying an eminence, and against
him the enemy at once advanced. In a few moments he was surrounded, and the enemy's artillery and musketry pouring in upon
him from every side. The ammunition of the men was nearly exhausted, and the communication with the rest of the corps being
cut off, no supply could be obtained. The situation was indeed a
desperate one, but the men who had borne the brunt of so many
conflicts did not shrink. Suddenly facing about, McAllister gave
the order to charge. Dashing forward through the undergrowth
and swamp, the brigade struck the enemy with such force. as to
break his lines and cause his elated troops to retire in disorder,
leaving one hundred prisoners in our hands. But the enemy still
held the opposite hill, and, pouring in a destructive fire, the assailing column was momentarily staggered, but speedily reformed and
once more drove back the again exultant foe, who now abandoned
the field. Our communications were immediately established; and
though at first disaster had attended our arms, the day at last was
fairly ours. The charge of the Second Brigade had not only saved
the brigade, but Egan's Division and the corps, which otherwise
must have been utterly routed.:'
31 The following documents relate to this engagement:
" HEADQUARTERS FIRST BRIGADE, 
SECOND DIVISION, SECOND CORPS,
October 29, 1864.
"GENERAL: Through you, I beg to thank Colonel McAllister, commanding your




182                NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
The brigade, now returning to its old position, remained in comparative quiet until the night of November 5th, when it again
Third Brigade, for indispensable service rendered to myself and command during the
recent operations. Colonel McAllister brought up his command at a critical moment,
when I was almost surrounded by a force of vast disparity of strength. The defiant
bearing of the enemy showed that they regarded their combinations as undoubtedly
successful, and wanting only final execution. My command had done everything possible, when Colonel McAllister saved them.  I cannot sufficiently thank him. The
recounting of the particulars of his services is unnecessary, as they are too brilliant
not to have been made public ere this; but I beg that you will, if consistent, commend
them at large to the Major-General commanding the corps, as I shall take great pleasure
in doing.             Your most obedient servant,
"T. W. EGAN,
"Brigadier-General Commanding Second Division.
"Brevet Major-General MOTT, Commanding Third Division."
The following is an extract from Colonel McAllister's congratulatory order:
"' General Orders,.lo. 5.
"OCTOBER 30, 1864.
"The Colonel commanding brigade congratulates the officers and men of this command on the manner in which they marched to the Boydton plank road, and the gallantry displayed by them in the battle of the 27th instant, reflecting great credit on
the old brigade. Your bravery arid determination, as exhibited when surrounded by
the enemy, is a new wreath added to the laurels of honor already won by this command in days that are past. May this and the gallant deeds of those battles stimulate
us to do or die for our country in the great cause in which we are engaged. Let each
one of us resolve to do our duty, and,'by the blessing of God, victory will perch on
our banners, peace will crown our exertions, and millions will do honor to those who
have so nobly borne our battle-flag through the trying scenes of this rebellion."
A correspondent of the Washington Chronicle said of this fight:
" The highest praise is given by all to the officers and men of the Second and Third
Divisions, for their behavior during the day. Generals Eagan and Mott, who commanded them, and General Smyth and Colonel McAllister, commanding brigades,'are
particularly praised for the able manner in which they handled their men. The charge
made by the New Jersey Brigade, under Colonel McAllister, on the enemy, who had
got in the rear of our forces, was one of the finest ever witnessed, and resulted in
saving the entire position."
General Mott's report gives the following account of the part taken by his division
in the operations on the left of the army:
"At ten o'clock, p. m., on Monday, Octobor 24th, pursuant to orders from Headquarters, Second Corps, the garrisons of Forts Sedgwick, Davis and Alexander Hays,
were relieved, and my division withdrawn from the front and massed near the Southall
House, where it remained until Wednesday, 26th. At two o'clock, p. m., I moved the
head of the column, and marched by the way of the Widow Smith's, Williams and Gurley
houses, passed through the breast-works at the latter, moved across the open country
in front of the fortifications to the Weldon Railroad, and bivouacked near the Lewis
House at five o'clock, p. m. On Thursday, the 27th, at half-past three o'clock, a. m.,
resumed the march, following the Second Division down the Halifax to the Church
road; thence by the way of the Wyatt House, and Mrs. Davis House to the Vaughn
road, down said road near the Cummings House, where I received orders from the
Major-General commanding the corps to mass, while the Second Division, commanded
by General Egan, drove the enemy from the ford at Hatcher's Run, which was soon
accomplished, and some defensive works carried. At eight o'clock, a. m., I crossed




THE SECOND  BRIGADE.                             188
shared in a brilliant achievement.  At that time, the brigade held
that part of our line between Forts Morton and Sedgwick, where
Hatcher's Run with my First Brigade, Brigadier-General De Trobriand, followed by
the Second Brigade, Brigadier-General R. B. Pierce, Battery K, Fourth United States
Artillery and Tenth Massachusetts, ambulances, &c., with the Third Brigade, Colonel
McAllister, in the rear. Immediately after crossing, I relieved a brigade of the Second
Division in the works that had been captured, and threw forward two regiments, the
Second United States Sharpshooters, and the Seventy-third New York Volunteers, as
skirmishers, to drive the enemy out of a corn-field where it was reported they were
throwing up some works to delay our advance, which they had no difficulty in doing.
The column then advanced through a wood-road to Dabney's Mill, where the road
intersected another, on which the Second Division was lying. At this place, the MajorGeneral commanding the corps, ordered a lieutenant in command of some one hundred
and fifty (150) cavalry to report to me. I gave him instructions to look well after the
rear, and to throw videttes well out on all by-roads, also to drive up all stragglers.
The march was continued, with flankers well thrown out on both flanks, and arrived
at the Boydton plank road at half-past        o'clock, p. m., when I immediately
relieved a brigade of the Second Division with my First Brigade, and placed it in
position in a curved line facing to the left and rear, with a strong skirmish line thrown
forward to the White Oak road on the right connecting with the Second Division, and
on the left with the cavalry pickets, the Second Brigade massed in the open field near
the junction of the roads. The Third Brigade, while coming up the road, was halted
by orders of Major-General Meade. At half-past one o'clock, p. m., in compliance
with orders from Major-General Hancock, I sent one of my aids, Lieutenant Moore,
to the lieutenant in command of the cavalry which had been placed under my charge,
with orders to report with his cavalry to General Gregg, which was delivered a quarter
to two o'clock, p. m. At a quarter past two o'clock, p. m., I received orders to send
a brigade to make a connection between General Crawford's Division of the Fifth
Corps, and the Second Division of this Corps. As the brigade was about to move the
order was countermanded. At half-past two o'clock, I sent two regiments to the
support of a section of artillery, posted in the corn-field near the woods, on the right of
the plank road; soon after, I sent forward the balance of the brigade, (the Second,)
commanded by Brigadier-General Pierce, to take up a position in the field and to be ready
for any emergency, and to throw out pickets well into the woods to guard against any
surprise in that quarter. At three o'clock, p. m., I received orders from Major-General
Hancock to send a brigade to report to Brigadier-General Egan. The Third Brigade, Colonel McAllister, was accordingly sent; for the part taken by this brigade, I respectfully
refer to the report of Colonel McAllister. I will also add that Brigadier-General Egan
expressed himself highly pleased with its conduct while under his command; although
composed in a great measure of new recruits, and there being a scarcity of officers, it
behaved most gallantly, and acted like veterans. During the time my whole command
was subjected to a brisk artillery fire, (which, however, did very little harm.) The
enemy commenced feeling all along the lines, and the fire increasing in the woods to
the right of the Second Brigade, I sent a staff officer to inquire the cause of it; he
returned with word from Brigadier-General Pierce that it was only a few stragglers
that General Crawford's pickets were driving. The firing increasing, I ordered General
Pierce to strengthen his picket line, when he sent the First United States Sharpshooters and the One Hundred and Fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers.  The enemy
finding there was no connection between us and the Fifth Corps, must have taken
immediate advantage of it, for at four o'clock, p. m., he attacked my Second Brigade
with an overwhelming force and with great vigor, driving back the regiments on tho
right, and striking the balance of the brigade on the right flank and rear, which




1.84              NEW  JERSEY  AND  THE REBELLION.
our lines pressed nearest to the city of Petersburg. Immediately in
front of McAllister was an old line of unfinished field-works, where
caused it to fall back in some little confusion. I immediately rode out with a part of
my staff, and succeeded in rallying them again. Seeing the danger of being cut off
from the road up which we had adyanced, and the necessity of having a force there as
soon as the attack commenced, I sent Major Williams, of my staff, to General De
Trobriand for at least a regiment for that purpose. The Seventeenth Maine Volunteers were selected, and taken on the double-quick to that point, when it was faced to
the left and marched into the woods, striking the attacking force on the flank. I also
sent word to General De Trobriand to take up a new line with the balance of his command along the road and to hold it at all hazards. About the time it was formed, a
charge was ordered by the Major-General commanding the corps, and gallantly
responded to by the Fortieth New York, Twentieth Indiana, Ninety-ninth and One
Hundred and Tenth Pennsylvania Volunteers, commanded by General De Trobriand in
person, driving the enemy and clearing the open field from which they had been
pressing us.
"At the same time, the First Maine Heavy Artillery, with a portion of the One
Hundred and Tenth Pennsylvania Volunteers, was led by Major Mitchell, A. D. C., to
the Major-General commanding the corps, across the same field to the left of General
De Trobriand. These troops, with portions of the Fifth Michigan and First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, re-captured a section of Battery C, United States Artillery,
which had been taken from us at the first onset of the enemy. The firing on my left
now increasing, and as it was only held by a skirmish line, I recalled General De Trobriand and the troops he had with him, excepting a line of skirmishers, to the road
from which they started on the charge. This line of my left extended on the right,
along the White Oak road, with the center and left along the edge of a dense pine
woods, and refused to connect with the cavalry. The enemy, being posted on the
opposite side of a large open field, now made a vigorous attack on this line, but were
handsomely repulsed. Some portion of the line was thrown into slight confusion for
a few moments, but the exertions of the officers, and steadiness of the veterans, soon
re-formed it, and the enemy fell back to his original position, baffled in the attempt
to break through, and, as he thought, to destroy us. These regiments consisted of
the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth, Eighty-sixth and Seventy-third New York Volunteers, and Second United States Sharpshooters.  This line was held until dark,
when, by some misunderstanding of orders, two of the regiments came in. I attribute
this to the fact that the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth New York Volunteers had
its two field-officers and two senior company officers wounded, leaving it with so few
officers to command it, that in the extreme darkness some of the men came in, and
the impression got among the balance that they had been ordered to do so. A line
was subsequently established by General De Trobriand, and no accident arose from it.
I had also ordered General Pierce to re-form his brigade, on the road to the right of
General De Trobriand, with pickets well out. I deployed the First Maine Heavy Artillery down the plank road, for the purpose of keeping a connection with the Second
Division. This was my position when darkness closed the fighting, the enemy having
been repulsed on all sides, and in every attack made upon us, with large losses in
killed, wounded and prisoners, although in much superior force, as I took prisoners
from the three divisions of Hill's Corps and Hampton's Cavalry. 1 now received
orders to start the ambulances, pack mules, and the two batteries of artillery, (which
were out of ammunition,) towards the Globe Tavern, under the escort of a good regiment. The Seventeenth Maine Volunteers were detailed for the purpose, and that I
would move my division at ten o'clock, p. m.; in the meanwhile to send for my Third
Brigade, Colonel McAllister, who reported to me at half-past eight o'clock. At the




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                             185
our main line was formerly established, but which recently had
been used  as a picket line.  The enemy  had, as we have seen,
shown the utmost restiveness under the close proximity and menacing positions of our pickets, and night and day kept up an incessant fire upon our men lying within the short range of seventy-five
yards.  Could  he but occupy and hold our picket line, his sharpshooters might effectually silence the guns of the two forts already
named, and, finally, compel the abandonment of our line; and it
was this consideration, doubtless, which induced the attack on the
night of the 5th.
Shortly after midnight, six hundred picked men of Hill's Corps,
accompanied by a large detail carrying entrenching tools, silently
moved upon our advanced picket posts, occupied by detachments
from  McAllister's Brigade.  Massing his troops, the enemy moved
cautiously until discovered by our men, and then, with a yell, swept
down impetuously upon the pickets of the One Hundred and Twentieth New  York and Eleventh  New  Jersey.  The attack, though
hour named, I. commenced to withdraw, having previously sent my provost-guard
ahead to clear the road, which, being a narrow wood road, and the night very dark,
was very much blocked up by the usual appendages of an army. When near Dabney's
Mill, I was met by a staff officer from Army Headquarters, who said he had orders
from the Major-General commanding the army, to Major-General Hancock to have me
stop after crossing Hatcher's Run. At one o'clock, a. m., of the 28th, having crossed
said run, I massed near the widow Smith's house, until after daylight, when I sent
one brigade, Brigadier-General Pierce commanding, to the Wyatt House. During the
morning, I received orders from  Corps Headquarters, that I would follow the
Second Division, General Egan, which was now coming.on the road.  At twelve
o'clock, m., I followed this division, and arrived at the Southall House at five o'clock,
p. m., and massed my Second and Third Brigades; the First Brigade was massed near
the Cheever House. In closing this report, I take pleasure in stating that my division
behaved well, repulsed successfully every charge that was made upon it; that from
the time of going into position, all were exposed to a severe artillery fire, not only in
front, but from both flanks and from the rear. There has seldom been an action
where there was as much individual bravery shown by both officers and men, fighting
when completely surrounded, and in some cases firing their last round of ammunition.
Where so many did so well, it would be invidious to particularize. Two of my brigade
commanders claim to have captured flags from the enemy. As they were not sent to
these headquarters, I can lay claim to but one of them, which was captured by private
William W. Scott, Company A, First Maine Heavy Artillery. Two pieces of artillery,
which had fallen into the hands of the enemy, were re-captured by my command, and
from four to five hundred prisoners; the exact number is difficult to tell, for a number
of them were delivered direct to the Provost-Marshal of the corps. The casualties in
my division during the action were 5 commissioned officers killed, and 28 wounded;
49 enlisted men killed, and 339 wounded; 3 commissioned officers, and 242 enlisted
men, missing."
24




186           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
sudden, found our men on the alert, and a gallant resistance was
made, the men on post fighting sometimes hand-to-hand, with a
heroic determination to hold their position if possible. But against
the furious assaults of ten times their own numbers a protracted resistance was in vain, and they retired fighting from pit to pit, leaving the enemy in possession of some forty posts, the works of which
they immediately set about reversing, with the intention of permanently occupying our original line. In the meantime, all along
the line, our men were under arms and ready for any contingency,
and the guns from our works opened vigorously, and were answered briskly by the enemy. The midnight cannonade was incessant, and the scene grand and imposing.  The bursting of shells;
the hollow moaning of bombs as they slowly mounted far into the
dimly-lighted sky, and then descended, marking their course by a
fiery train; the flashes of musketry-all contributed to render the
scene one of awful grandeur.
As the enemy was now in full possession of an important portion
of our line, it became evident that we must dislodge him from the
works which every moment were being reversed and strengthened.
On being driven from their pits our men had fallen back to a ravine
near our main line, from which they commenced a galling fire upon
the enemy, who evinced no disposition to advance further from the
works which he had captured. From this ravine it was determined
to charge the enemy, and three companies of the One Hundred and
Twentieth New York were accordingly ordered to move by the
flank, and at all hazards drive the enemy from the works. The
charge was made, and at the point of the bayonet, and with the
blinding flashes of the enemy's guns full in their faces, our men,
after a desperate struggle, were again in possession of most of their
former line. A few posts, however, were still persistently held by
the enemy until daybreak, when, their exact position discovered,
they were again assaulted by our men, and at six o'clock the followingthorning, we had regained every post, and the enemy had
been driven back with the loss on his side of ten or twelve killed,
and left on the field one hundred wounded and forty-five prisoners,
among them a commissioned officer. Nearly all the prisoners were




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                            187
South Carolinians, who fought with the utmost desperation to the
last.  McAllister's loss was twenty-nine in killed and wounded."
Among the killed was private T. McBride, of the Eighth New Jersey, and Corporal H. Stone, of the Eleventh. Among the wounded
were two privates of the Seventh New Jersey, and four of the
Eleventh.  The conduct of our troops in this affair excited the
warmest admiration throughout the army, and Colonel McAllister
was widely complimented upon the efficient manner in which he
met the demands of the occasion. General Hancock addressed a
note to General Mott, commanding the division, expressing unqualified gratification at the " brave conduct of his troops, and of
the ability  and  determination displayed by Colonel McAllister;"
and other officers gave prompt expression to similar sentiments of
admiration.  Colonel McAllister, in a congratulatory order, especially  commended  the three companies of the One Hundred and
Twentieth New York and one company of the Eleventh New Jersey, and their staff and line officers, " who so nobly led these gallant
soldiers to a successful re-capture of the lost works, against an
overwhelming force of the enemy."   " The skill, bravery and determination," he added, "of the officers and men thus engaged,
representing these, the Eleventh New Jersey, the Eleventh  Massachusetts, and nearly all the regiments in this brigade, should be: A correspondent of the New York Tribune says of this gallant affair:
" The struggle for the possession of the works on our picket line is represented as
having been desperate in the extreme. Frequently a determined fight would occur
across the works, and in one instance so close were the combatants that one of our
men, a member of the One Hundred and Twentieth New York, was pulled bodily over
on the rebel side, where, afterbeing beaten until apparently dead with the breach of a
musket, he was robbed of his watch, money and boots. He made his escape this
morning, minus the articles mentioned, and plus a very sore head. The faces of the
men killed and of many wounded bear witness to the gallantry of the struggle, the
skin, in some instances, being black with the powder from the enemy's muskets.
In the list of casualties, appears the name of Thomas McBride, of the Eighth New
Jersey Battalion, who was killed while charging with our men to re-capture our works.
This gallant fellow, an orderly to Colonel McAllister, commanding the brigade, when
it was known that our picket line had been attacked, begged permission to accompany
the detail, carrying ammunition to the front, and on arriving and learning that we
were about to charge the enemy, entered the ranks of the assaulting party, and was
killed while fighting heroically in the front ranks. As noble as is the example of the
dead soldier McBride, many in the ranks of the Union army have fallen and arc
destined yet to fall, possessed of a patriotism as exalted and a bravery as sublime
as his."




188              iNEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
placed side by side with the heroic deeds performed in other and
greater battles."33
The brigade was now permitted to rest from  active campaigning
until the 6th of December, when it started with the Fifth Corps
and Mott's Division of the Second Corps, on the Weldon Railroad
expedition.  This march  was attended by great discomforts, the
weather being stormy and cold, and the roads at times impassable.
Moving down the railroad to the Meherrin, the few rebels encountered were dispersed, and the troops commenced the work of destroying the track, which was done effectually for a distance of
twenty miles.  The brigade of McAllister, who, on the morning of
the 6th, had been notified of his appointment as Brevet BrigadierGeneral, took an active part in this work.  The troops, having accomplished the object of the expedition, returned to their position,
the Second  Brigade, however, going into camp on the Weldon
Railroad.34
93 General Mott's order on the occasion was as follows:
" HEADQUARTERS, THIRD DIVISION SECOND CORPS, )
November 7, 1864.
"General Order, NVo. 67.
" The Brevet Major-General Commanding takes great pleasure in expressing to the
command his gratification with the good conduct of the troops engaged in the affair
on the night of the 5th instant-resulting in the re-taking of that portion of the picket
line wrested from us by an overwhelming force of the enemy, the capture of forty-two
prisoners, (including one commissioned officer,) the forcing of the enemy to leave in
our hands a number of their dead, and a quantity of small arms and entrenching tools.
Special mention is due to Colonel R. McAllister, commanding brigade, who gave his
personal superintendence to the operations, and to the officers on his staff, who rendered him such effective service. The conduct of the officers and men of the One
Hundred and Twentieth New York and Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers, who were
directly engaged, is worthy of emulation. Such gallantry, always displayed, would
soon bring the rebellion to a close.
"By command of                                  Brevet Major-G eneral MOTT.
"J. P. FINKELMEIER, A. A. G."
so General Mott made the following report of the part taken by his division during
this movement on the Weldon Railroad:
"On Tuesday, the 6th inst., at two o'clock, p. m., I received orders from eIadquarters Army of the Potomac, to report immediately to Major-General Warren for
orders. On reporting, I received instructions to be ready to move with my division at
daylight next morning with six days' rations and one hundred rounds of small army
ammunition. Wednesday, the 7th, left camp at daylight and marched just south of
the Yellow Tavern, of the Gurley House, Smith's House, and of the Temple House,
following General Ayres' Division of the Fifth Corps, and being joined by Battery B,
Fourth United States Artillery, commanded by Captain Stewart, which battery was
assigned to my division by the Chief of Artillery, of the Fifth Corps. Thence proceeded
south by the Jerusalem plank road, arriving at Hawkins' Tavern at half-past four




THE SECOND  BRIGADE.                            189
On  February  5, 1865, General Grant ordered  the Fifth  an
Second Corps again to push out from our left to Ream's Station,
and thence to Dinwiddie Court House, the Fifth being directed to
turn the rebel right, while the Second assailed it in front. In this
movement, McAllister's Brigade formed its line of battle at the
Tucker House across the road leading past it, with pickets well to
the front, connecting with the Second Division pickets on his
left. Here breastworks were partly erected, which, however, were
subsequently partly occupied by Ramsey's Brigade of the First
Division, McAllister being ordered to form  on Ramsey's left and
make  connection  with  the right of Smyth's Division.   While
making this formation, however, our picket line was attacked, and
the brigade moved into line behind that portion of the works not
occupied by Ramsey's men.  At this moment, however, a gap was
discovered in the line between the two brigades, and the Eleventh,
intended for the left, was hastily detached and hurried to the right,
occupying the breach.  They  were at once opened  upon by the
enemy, but promptly returned the fire, which soon became general
o'clock, p. m.; at six o'clock, p. m., received orders from the Major-General commanding the expedition to pass the divisions of General Griffin and Ayres, and to cross
the Nottoway River on the pontoon bridge which had been previously laid; on arriving
near the bridge there was some delay occasioned by a wagon having run off the bridge
and broken one of the boats. The damage was soon repaired, under the immediate
superintendence of Major-General Warren, and crossed the bridge at half-past seven
o'clock and bivouacked near the fork of the roads leading to Stony Creek and Sussex
Court House. Thursday, December 8th, I was charged with the protection of the
general train. Captain Stevenson, with one hundred and fifty of the Second New
York Mounted Rifles, reported to me for duty. At half-past six o'clock, moved the
head of the column, consisting of the Second and Third Brigades, the First Brigade,
General De Trobriand, with five regiments with him, and: five and in rear of the train,
and one hundred of the Mounted Rifles with the five rear regiments; the balance
were used to protect the flanks. At half-past eight o'clock, the pontoon train was in
motion, and we moved rapidly forward, passing through Sussex Court House and
Coman's Wells to the Chambless Farm, where I massed in rear of General Ayres'
Division at three o'clock, p. m., reporting my arrival to the Major-General commanding, and receiving instructions to move forward to within about a mile and a half of the
Weldon Railroad, and bivouacked for the night at half-past four o'clock. Friday, the
9th, in pursuance of instructions, moved at daylight, and struck the railroad a little
south of Jarrett's Station at half-past seven o'clock, a. m., and immediately commenced the thorough destruction of the rails and ties along my division front. After
this had been accomplished, I passed down the road to a point about one mile south
of the Bailey House, and completed the destruction of the road to that point; and at
half-past four o'clock, went into bivouac for the night on theBailey Farm. About six
o'clock, p. m., I received verbal orders from the Major-General commanding that there
was a space of about one mile between General Ayres' Division and the Cavalry Divi



190               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
along the line.  All the regiments of McAllister's Brigade were now
behind breastworks, except the Eighth New Jersey, commanded by
Major Hartford, which was exposed to a galling fire, but stood nobly
to its work.  Soon, however, two regiments of the Second Division,
(General Smyth,) stationed on the left of McAllister's extended line,
and upon which he relied to hold the gap between himself and
Smyth's main line, unaccountably gave way on the approach of the
enemy, and it became clear that McAllister's troops must fight the
battle  alone.   The distance between  his brigade  and  the  First
sion which was not destroyed; moved the division to the point designated, destroyed
the road and returned to the Bailey Farm at ten o'clock, p. m. The object of the expedition having been accomplished, orders were received to withdraw at seven o'clock,
a. m., next morning, following General Ayres' Division. Saturday, December 10th,
moved at half-past eight o'clock, a. m., and marched steadily, with but few halts, until six
o'clock, p. m., when darkness set in, and the road becoming obstructed with wagons
sticking fast, it was impracticable to proceed further, so I massed my division and
bivouacked for the night about three miles from Sussex Court House.  Sunday,
December 11th, moved at daylight, and marched about three-quarters of a mile, when,
coming up to General Ayres' Division, I massed in his rear until he moved off; then
proceeded through Sussex Court House to within about three-quarters of a mile of
Freeman's bridge on the Nottoway River, when I received orders to mass, and allow
the trains and General Crawford's Division to cross and to cover the same. Dispositions were accordingly made by throwing out the Eleventh Massachusetts Volunteers
as skirmishers on the Sussex Court House road, and the Eighth New Jersey on the
Stony point road. Small squads of cavalry were seen on the flanks, evidently watching our movements, and for the purpose of picking up stragglers rather than with the
intention of attacking. After passing all the command, with the exception of these two
regiments and a section of Captain Stewart's Battery, six shots were fired as a parting
salute, and by dark the last man was across the river, without any hostile demonstrations from the small force that followed our rear. Bivouacked at half-past eight
o'clock about three miles north of the Nottoway River on the Jerusalem plank road.
Monday, December 12th, moved at seven o'clock, a. m., along the Jesusalem plank road
towards our old camping ground; reported at Headquarters Second Army Corps at two
o'clock, p. m., and went into camp outside of the fortifications between the Halifax
and Vaughn roads. As the division was not engaged with the enemy, the operations
were limited to forced marches of six days and nights, exposed to the most inclement
weather of the season, the destruction of the railroad and devastation of the country.
Officers and men performed their duty with alacrity, although at times suffering severely on account of the extreme coldness of the weather. The first day's march was
very severe on the command, being in rear of the column, and having in one of my
brigades many recruits and new men unused to marching which caused many to straggle,
consequently they failed to arrive at the river before the bridge was taken up, and
were, therefore, taken up by the cavalry and returned to the headquarters of the corps.
My brigade and battery commanders, together with the officers of my staff, carried out
all orders with promptness and zeal, and deserve commendation as on many former
occasions.
"My loss, which was from  straggling, as no caualtics occurred where the men
stayed with their commands, was two killed, two wounded and twenty-five missing.
Total, twenty-nine."




TlE SECOND BRIGADE.                           191
Brigade of General Smyth being some three hundred yards, offered
an opportunity for the enemy to press in and take our troops upon
the flank, which would in all probability, if accomplished, prove
fatal to our position.  McAllister, therefore, seeing the danger, directed the Seventh New Jersey, the third regiment from the left of
his line, and formed at a different angle so as to enable them to
enfilade the enemy's columns, to oblique its fire, which was done.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Adams, commanding a section of a Massachusetts battery, stationed on the extreme left rear, poured in a destructive fire, its shells crossing the fire of the Seventh at nearly
right angles, while Green's section, still more advantageously
posted, took  the  enemy  directly  on the flank.   Thus  terribly
assailed, exposed to a withering fire in front and on either flank,
the enemy soon recoiled, and for a time there was a lull.   But, recovering  from   his confusion, and  massing his columns afresh,
the rebels again dashed forward, but again they fell back before
the terrible fire. Then, all along our lines, the men took up the
air, "Rally'round the flag, boys," sending out its defiant strains
over the ensanguined field. The heavy firing had now ceased for
the time, but again the pause was of short duration. Soon as the
night closed in, the rebel General Mahone, withhis famous "Fighting Division," made a rush for the gap in our lines; but once more
our men were prepared, reinforcements having fortunately come
up, and again the assailing columns were rolled back, and at last
the victory was ours.  From  prisoners, who subsequently came in,
it was learned that the enemy had suffered very severely. The
prisoners represented three different divisions of the rebel army,
showing that they had a formidable force in our front,35 and had
35 The enemy, in this engagement, Was commanded by General Gordon, who, in a
conversation with General McAllister, some time after the close of the war, stated that
he had three full divisions on the field, and had never felt more confident of victory. He
had informed himself thoroughly as to our position, a spy, dressed in the uniform of a
Major, having penetrated our lines, and actually witnessed the disposition of our
troops. When told that he had been beaten by a single brigade, General Gordon expressed the greatest surprise, and frankly declared that the achievement was one of
which any officer had reason to be proud. General Gordon's admissions as to the
strength of his force are important, as entirely confirming the claim of the Jersey
Brigade that they had vanquished in this fight vastly superior numbers.




192               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
been determined, if possible, to break our lines.  Had  they suce
ceeded, they might have inflicted almost irreparable disaster on our
army; and it was an appreciation of this fact which  stimulated
our troops to a bravery and endurance which deserved and elicited
the very highest encomiums-not an officer or a man having left
his post during the engagement.  The loss in McAllister's Brigade
was fifty-three, mainly in the Eighth New Jersey, which was peculiarly exposed. As in many other instances, the credit of this
victory was given to others than those who really achieved it; but
the  Jerseymen  who  that  day  so  heroically resisted  the  rebel
onslaught, know, and it is due to them that it should be recorded,
that they, and they alone, of McAllister's immediate command,
saved the army from  a calamity whose consequences would have
reached far beyond that desparately-contested field.'6
36 The following papers relate to this engagement, and explain, in full, its incidents
and importance. The first is an extract from General McAllister's official report, as
follows:
"According to orders received, we broke camp and left at seven o'clock, a. in., on
the morning of the 5th, the brigade (the Third) following the Second, commanded by
General West.
"On passing the Cummings' House, we were halted, and I was ordered by BrevetMajor-General Mott to place my brigade in line of battle near the Tucker House, across
the road leading past it, and to throw out pickets well to the front, connecting them
with the Second Division pickets on my left; also to guard well my right. This was
accomplished in a very short time, giving my personal superintendence to the placing
of the pickets, and their connection with the Second Division pickets, on the road
leading through the left center of my line of battle, as directed. After taking a survey of the whole field, and making myself acquainted with the roads and swamps in
my front and right, I returned to my command. At half-past twelve o'clock, p. m.,
I received orders from Major-General Humphreys to build breastworks. My men went
at it with a will, and soon had the works well under way, at the same time extending
them towards the swamp on the right, to prevent my being flanked. Meanwhile, an
order was received from Brevet Major-General Mott, to throw a regiment across a
road, a considerable distance from my left, leading down towards the Armstrong Mill.
I placed there the Seventh New Jersey Volunteers, commanded by Colonel Price, and
had my brigade to connect with him, by taking distance to the left. These works are
now nearly completed.  At half-past three o'clock, p. m., a staff officer from Brevet
Brigadier-General Ramsey presented a telegram from Major-General Humphreys, ordering General Ramsey to relieve me in my position; at the same time, the- head of
General Ramsey's Brigade was on the ground, with the General leading it. I obeyed
the order, and sent my Adjutant-General (Captain Finkelmeicr) to Division Headquarters for orders, massing, in the meantime, my brigade in the rear. At four o'clock,
p. m., received orders to form on the left of General Ramsey. I at once commenced
the movement. My right regiments were just filing in, when the attack was made on
the picket line. I then ordered' double-quick,' and the men moved in rapidly. Lieutenant-Colonel Willian, of Major-General Humphrcy's staff, then informed me that




THE  SECOND  BRIGADE.                            193
On the 25th of March, General Meade, believing that the enemy's
lines in front of the Second and Sixth Corps had been greatly  dethere was a gap in the line, between myself and Ramsey, caused by General Ramsey
closing to the right. My rear regiment, the Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers, Colonel
Schoonover, intended for the left of the line, was taken off and hurried into this gap.
They received a fire from the enemy and returned it, causing the left of the enemy's
line of battle to falter and lay down. The fire was taken up all along the line, as fast
as my troops were formed. The pickets in my new front having run in without firing
a shot, left the enemy right on us before I had my line completed. Regiment after
regiment opened on the rebels, as fast as they wheeled into position, causing their
line to halt and lay down. The left regiment, Eighth New Jersey Volunteers, under
command of Major Hartford, had no works, and were exposed to a terrible fire in their
unprotected position, but they stood nobly and fought splendidly; not a man of this
regiment, or, indeed, of the whole brigade, left for the rear. Major Hartford and his
regiment deserve particular credit for the gallantry they displayed in getting into
position under the severe fire, and holding it without works, while two regiments
from the Second Division, that had been laying for hours a little to my left, on the
approach of the enemy gave way without firing a gun, leaving still a much larger space
between my left and the right of the Second Division. After completing the line on
the left, under charge of Captain Bowers, A. A. D. C., I rode along the line with my
Adjutant-General, encouraging the men to stand firm, and the day would be ours. The
One Hundred and Twentieth New York Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel Lockwood,
on the right of the Eighth New Jersey Volunteers; the Colonel and his officers were
all on their feet, doing the same. The Seventh New Jersey Volunteers, Colonel Price
commanding, came next. This regiment was formed at a different angle, so as to
enable the men to pour an enfilading fire into the enemy's lines and prevent them
from advancing into the gap. I gave the order, and it was executed handsomely, and
added very much to the repulse of the enemy. Had it not been for this and the aid of
the artillery, commanded by Lieutenants Green and Adams, of the Tenth Massachusetts, who were throwing their fire across the swamp at a right angle with my cnfilading fire, all would have been lost. These artillery officers deserve great credit, and
I have the pleasure to mention them favorably. The enemy advanced with a yell,
well known to us all, and fell back. Again they advanced, with a determination to
break my line, but again my ranks stood firm, and rolled back the tide of battle, in a
highly creditable manner. Prisoners say that they advanced in three lines of battle;
from all that I could see and learn, I think that was the case, though the woods prevented our seeing their movements. In riding along the line, I found Chaplain Hopkins, of the One Hundred and Twentieth New York, using a gun and firing constantly,
and encouraging the men to stand firm. He is deserving of mention. When asked
what he was doing with a gun, the Chaplain quietly replied,'Helping the boys a
little, sir.' Before the battle ended, Major-General Humphreys and part of his staff
came up on the line, and he was an eye-witness of the scene before him. It was a
pleasing sight to see how the appearance of the Corps Commander inspired our men to
new efforts. The third attack of the enemy, then attempted, ended in a complete
rout, and, night closing in, they fell back to the woods, leaving their dead behind.
During the latter part of the engagement, two regiments of the Second Division came
up to support my line, and, at the close, the whole of the Second Brigade formed on
my left.  A number of prisoners came in during the evening, and were forwarded.
During the night, our pickets were thrown out, and, tired and exhausted as the men
were, most part of the night was spent in building breastworks, on the left of the line;
the rest laid on their arms during the night. On the 6th of February, the strengthening
of the line was continued, our picket line advanced, and details sent in front to slash
the timber and bury the enemy's dead. In the afternoon, part of my command was
sent out on a reconnoissance towards the enemy's lines, which were then discovered to
25




194               1NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
pleted, ordered an  advance.   Under orders from  General Mott, to
drive  in  the  enemy's  picket, General McAllister sent in  the
Eleventh New  Jersey and One Hundred and Twentieth New York
Regiments for that purpose. These regiments gallantly advanced
across an open field, in face of a bitter fire, and promptly captured
the works, with some fifty prisoners-an attempt to retake the line
being as promptly repulsed. Two additional regiments were then
advanced, and two others, the Seventh and Eighth New  Jersey,
carried to the right of the division.  Meanwhile, the First Division
of the corps, under General Miles, had been attacked by the enemy,
but had  held  its ground.  Later in  the day, Lieutenant-Colonel
Schoonover, with his command, was again attacked  and  driven
from  the works occupied  in  the morning, but the Seventh  and
Eighth going to his help, his line was re-established and securely
held.  During the day, McAllister captured one hundred and fifty
be about a mile and a half from our own. February 7th, packed up and remained
under arms until dark, one-fourth of the command remaining under arms all night.
In conclusion, permit me to say that my officers and men did all that could be desired. of them, the former encouraging the men to stand firm, regardless of their own personal safety, and the latter firing low, as directed. To mention some, would be doing
injustice to others. I must, however, not omit to notice my Adjutant-General, Captain
J. P. Finkelmeier, who fully sustained his previous reputation for gallantry and bravery
in action, advising and encouraging officers and men everywhere, under the most terrific fire. Also my aids, Captain Charles F. Bowers, A. A. D. C., Captain Louis M.
Morris, Brigade Inspector, and Lieutenant William Plimley, A. A. D. C., who went
into the thickest of the fight with a will, whenever ordered. [Lieutenant Titus and
some of the men carried boxes of ammunition up to the very front, and there distributed it under fire.] Subjoined, I have the honor to submit a statement of casualties: Seventh New Jersey Volunteers, 1 enlisted man wounded; Eighth New Jersey,
11 enlisted men killed, 2 commissioned officers and 35 enlisted men wounded; Eleventh
New Jersey, 1 enlisted man killed, and 1 enlisted man wounded; Eleventh Massachusetts, no casualties; One Hundred and Twentieth New York, 2 enlisted men wounded.
Total, 53."
The following is an extract from Colonel McAllister's congratulatory order to his
brigade:
" It is with feelings of pleasure that I once more congratulate you on the brilliant
achievements of the 5th inst. Your gallantry and bravery, thus displayed in rolling
back the enemy's columns, when he felt sure of success by superior numbers, is
worthy of your former fame. While all arc deserving of great praise in doing everything in their power to stay the tide of battle, the left regiments, and particularly the
left wing of the Eighth New Jersey Volunteers, under command of Major Hartford,
wholly unprotected by breastworks, and standing the shock of battle with a heroism
worthy of the great cause in which we are enlisted, are deserving of special mention."
General Mott, in his report, says, after noticing the preliminary movements, including the establishment of his picket line in front of the enemy:
Ramsey's Brigade, of the First Division, having been ordered to relieve McAllistcr,




THE SECOND  BRIGADE.                            195
prisoners, and lost in the brigade one hundred and forty-seven men
(including  two  officers) in killed, wounded  and  missing-some
eighty  of the  whole number being  captured.  The  loss of the
Eleventh was fifty-four men.  The corps captured in all some five
hundred prisoners; but the hardest fighting of the day was done
by Mott's Division, though it failed to receive credit therefor in the
newspaper reports of the time.
Holding the position thus wrested from the enemy until the 29th,
the brigade broke camp, and with the division, moved to the left.
The grand final movement against the enemy was now in progress,
and the Second Corps (now  commanded by General Humphreys)
was again to sustain the brunt of the fray.  Cautiously advancing
its lines, the division, on the 31st, took position near the Boydton
plank road, where the enemy was found strongly entrenched, with
three forts commanding  the road.  Iere, at midday, an assault
was made by the. Eleventh and Eighth New Jersey, with two other
(holding the roads near the Tucker House,) I sent him instructions that as soon as relieved to move to the left and extend towards, and, if possible, to make a connection
with, the right of Smyth's Division. At about half-past three o'clock, I was somewhat
surprised to receive word from General McAllister, by his Adjutant-General, that, on
being relieved, he had massed his command in the rear of his former position. I
ordered him to hasten back and tell General McAllister to deploy immediately and fill
the gap between General Ramsey's Brigade and Smyth's Division. Also, sent Captain
Moore, A. D. C., to see the order executed. It was while going into this position
that the skirmishers were driven in, and the attack was made on, and handsomely repulsed by, the brigade. As soon as the firing commenced, I sent a staff officer to
General McAllister, to see how he was making out. The General was most gallantly
encouraging his command, and sent me word that lie was' fighting with and without
breastworks; also, that he could whip them either way.' A little before five o'clock,
two regiments of West's Brigade, (the One Hundred and Seventy-first Pennsylvania
Volunteers and the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery,) were sent to report to
General McAllister.  These regiments arrived in time to render efficient service in
repulsing the last attack of the enemy, going into position under very heavy fire. At
about five o'clock, p. m., the balance of the brigade, with the exception of the One
Hundred and Fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, were ordered to the support of McAllister. The enemy charged this line three distinct times, and each time he was signally
repulsed. It now becoming dark, the enemy withdrew, leaving a portion of his dead
on the field. The conduct of General McAllister and his troops deserves especial mention, having repulsed successfully the vigorous attacks of the enemy, who were in
greatly superior numbers, (prisoners being taken from each division of Hill's and Gordon's Corps,) parts of the command without any protection; yet all bravely stood
firm and inflicted severe loss on their assailants, who were employed through the night
in carrying off their wounded and dead. Yet my pioneers, who were sent out the
next day, buried thirty-three, and found twenty-two newly-made graves, some of them
large enough to contain five or six bodies."




196            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
regiments, upon one of the rebel works, the men advancing through
heavy slashings to the crest of a hill overlooking the enemy's
position, and succeeding in occupying part of his rifle pits. The
position, however, was found to be a most perilous one, the column
being exposed to an enfilading artillery fire which swept its entire
front, and, after a time, it was withdrawn, under a brisk fire of the
enemy's sharpshooters, causing a considerable loss in killed, wounded
and prisoners. Skirmishing was actively continued during the
night and following day.  On the 2d of April, a general attack on
the enemy's line was ordered, and at eight o'clock, the Eighth New
Jersey, advancing on the immediate front, in the midst of a fire of
musketry, shell and canister, captured the entire picket line of the
enemy-one hundred and sixty-five men, and two hundred muskets;
whereupon, the Eleventh New Jersey and Eleventh Massachusetts
were advanced, and a charge was at once made on the main works
of the rebels, resulting in the capture of further prisoners and the
occupation of the works. This charge, which was made with the
utmost gallantry, the men frequently grappling hand to hand with
the enenmy,7 opened Petersburg to assault at that part of the line,
and the command at once moved forward towards the doomed city,
intelligence being soon received, however, that the enemy, beaten
also at all other points of the line, had evacuated both Petersburg
and Richmond.  The elation which this announcement caused
among the men who had, to the last, so honorably shared in every
important engagement, can, perhaps, be realized only by those who,
that day standing on the captured entrenchments of the Confederacy, saw the End shining luminously through the battle-smoke.
On the 3d, the brigade joined in the pursuit of the retreating
enemy, and moving towards Jetersville, on the morning of the
6th, found the enemy's line in its front. The brigade was at once
formed in line of battle, and steadily advancing, at three o'clock
charged upon the enemy, driving his line and capturing a part of
his wagon train, with a number of prisoners. During these operations, General Mott was shot in the right leg by a rifle-ball. On the
s7 In this charge, the brave Major Hartford, of the Eighth, was the first man to plant
our flag on the enemy's redoubts, at half-past nine o'clock.




THE SECOND  BRIGADE.                            197
7th, crossing the Appomattox, at High Bridge, the brigade advanced
towards Turnville, where the enemy again made a stand, and skirmishing was sustained during the greater part of the day. During
the night, the enemy was pushed steadily towards Appomattox
Court House, where, at three o'clock on the following  afternoon,
intelligence was received that General Lee had surrendered the Army
of Northern Virginia, and the march was ended.38
zs General McAllister's official report of this campaign closes as follows:
"During this short and eventful campaign all officers and men of this command have
exhibited such commendable bravery and endurance that it is almost impossible to
make a distinction. I cannot, however, omit to mention particularly the brave and
gallant conduct of the following officers, and to recommend them for brevet promotion: Lieutenant-Colonel John Schoonover, Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers;
Captain John P. Finkelmeicr, A. A. G. of this Brigade, to date from the 21st of
January-on which date both officers have been recommended for brevet promotionin just appreciation of their valuable services during the last summer's campaign.
They have since, on the 5th of February, near Hatcher's Run, as well as throughout this
campaign, fully sustained their previous reputation, and are so well known throughout
the corps for their gallant and efficient conduct in the field, that I deem it my duty
to renew the application for their well-earned promotion.
Major Hartford, Eighth New Jersey Volunteers, for his gallantry exhibited on the
morning of the 2d of April.
Colonel Francis Price, commanding Seventh New Jersey Volunteers, and Captain
Charles F. Gage, Eleventh New Jersey Volnnteers, for bravery exhibited on all occasions
during this campaign.
Lieutenant W. Plimlcy, A. A. D. C. on my staff; for his brave conduct during the
morning of the 2d of April with Major Hartford."
The following is the order of General McAllister, issued upon the termination of
this campaign:
" General Order, ivo 7.
"To the officers and men of this Brigade:
" It is a pleasure for me again to congratulate you on the brilliant success of this
campaign, and the noble manner in which you have acquitted yourselves in the
different affairs in which you have participated.
" I must favorably mention the One Hundred and Twentieth New York Volunteers,
temporarily commanded by Major Scott, and the Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers,
temporarily commanded by Captain Gage-all under command of Lieutenant-Colonel
Schoonover-for their gallantry in taking and re-taking the enemy's picket line with a
large number of prisoners, on the 25th of March, under a severe fire of artillery and
musketry.
" The Seventh New Jersey Volunteers, Colonel Price, for timely assistance, rendered
late in the evening, in establishing the broken line and making the connections under
the fire of the enemy.
"The Eighth New Jersey Volunteers, Major Hartford; Eleventh Massachusetts
Volunteers, Major Dunham; and the One Hundred and Twentieth New York Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel Lockwood-all under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Rivers
-for gallantry in developing the enemy's force on the Boydton plank road, on
the 31st.
"The Eighth New Jersey Volunteers, Major Hartford, for the capture of the picket
line on the 2d of April, and a large number of prisoners and arms, under a galling fire of
shell and musketry, and planting our flag on the enemy's redoubts.




198               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Here, too, ends the campaigning of the Second Brigade. Marching to Burkesville Station, it remained at that point until May 2d,
when it set its face homewards, marching through Richmond on the
6th, and arriving at Arlington on the 15th.  On the 23d, it participated in the grand review of our victorious armies, and early in June
the various regiments reached Trenton, whence the men scattered to
their homes."' They had done their duty bravely, steadily, uncomplainingly; had helped, in many of the severest battles of the
war, to maintain the Union and the prowess of our arms; and they
deserved, now that peace had come, to sit down in calm  content at
their own dear firesides, honored of all men —there, in all coming
years to cherish the proud memorials of their service, and treasure
"The Eleventh Massachusetts Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel Rivers, for their
gallant advance with the division skirmishers on the 6th.
"The Eleventh Massachusetts Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel Rivers, and the One
Hundred and Twentieth New York Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel Lockwood; for the
early connection with the Second Brigade in the advance on the evening of the 6th, and
the balance of the regiments for their promptness in throwing out skirmishers, and
their handsome advance which drove back the enemy and assisted in capturing his
wagon train.
"While all were not engaged at once, each did his share in helping to secure these
results-of which you may all feel proud and can now rejoice over the greatest victory
of the war. But in our rejoicing, let us not forget the gallant dead, that our prayers
may go up daily for the widows and orphans, and our hearts open to their wants in
sympathy and benevolence."
39 General McAllister's farewell order to the brigade, issued on June 2d, was as
follows:
"General Order, 1Vo 10.
To the officers and soldiers of the Third Brigade:
" As we are about to separate, allow me once more to congratulate you on your past
and brilliant career-which now becomes a matter of history. The war is over, the
contest ended, and the glorious old flag of our country-consecrated by the blood of our
fallen heroes, under the folds of which you have so often, so long and so gallantly
fought and bled, and to defend which your comrades have died-now floats in triumph
all over the land. The war brought us to the field. Peace returns us to our homes.
Our work is done, and we go to enjoy with our friends in the several States represented
in this command, the fruits of our victories. New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts
have an interest in you as their reprcsentatives, and will do justice to the old Third
Brigade.
"In parting with you, I feel more than I can express or language convey. We
shared each others' dangers, toils and fatigues-on the march, in battle, in the charge,
whether attended with victory or defeat. Tics of more than an ordinary kind bind us
together. Good-bye, comrades in arms. Good bless you and the widows and orphans
of those of our number who have fallen by our side; and if we never meet again on
earth, may we meet in a brighter and better world.
ROBERT MCALLISTER,
" Brevet Brigadier-G-eneral."




THE  SECOND  BRIGADE.                            i99
the memories of their dead and heroic comrades whose eyes were
not permitted to see the purple dawn of the day of peace, but
whose feet walked unfalteringly, always, the path of duty.
As illustrating the part performed by the New Jersey regiments in this last campaign, the following letter, kindly furnished by General McAllister, is here appended:
" March 29th. As ordered, we broke camp at the Tucker House and moved by the
left flank, across Hatcher's Run on the Vaughn road, about two miles. All this corps
(the Second) was here. Our connection was kept up with the old works by some of
the'Army of the James.' The Second Brigade of this division, General Pierce, was
on my right; First Brigade on the reserve; First Division of our corps on my left.
Ten o'clock, a. m., halted, faced to the right, and built breastworks. No enemy appearing, we moved forward in line of battle, with our skirmishers in the advance,
passing over some old rebel breastworks. When darkness set in, we moved by the
left flank, as we did in the morning, and passed a deserted rebel camp. It now commenced raining, and to the darkness of the night was added another obstacle, in the
thick underbrush of the forest through which we had to pass, rendering it almost impossible to march. We now halted in line of battle, threw out our pickets for the
night, and laid down to sleep.
" Mlarch 30th, six o'clock, a. m. All up, and breakfast over, we advanced forward in
line of battle, through a very heavy forest, encountering the difficulties of swamps.
We soon crossed the old plank road leading from Dabney's saw mill to the Boydton
plank road, about equal distance from the two places. The rain-storm grew harder,
pouring down in torrents, making it exceedingly bad for the troops. Our skirmishers
now encountered the enemy and drove him back. We advanced to the Grow House,
and in great haste threw up a long line of breastworks. At dark, bivouacked for the
night, as we supposed. Although the storm  continued, all, except those on duty,
were soon asleep.'"  arch 31st, one o'clock, a. m. Ordered to fall in, and about two o'clock, a. m., we
found ourselves moving slowly along by the left flank, in rear of this new line of
works. The rain had stopped, but the mud was so deep that it was almost impossible
to travel; but on moved our column-the whole army in the same direction. When
my left touched the Boydton plank road it was daylight and we halted-faced the
enemy, whose works were frowning upon us, telling us by shot and shell,' Thus far
shalt thou come, and no farther.' At the left of my brigade stood the old white oak
tree, known as General Hancock's Headquarters; he having stood under this tree on
the 27th of October last, when we fought the Boydton plank road battle. The enemy's
guns now playing upon us, are concealed from our view by redoubts and breastworks,
built by the enemy upon the very ground on which I fought that day, and where my
brigade so nobly drove back the rebels, saving us from destruction. Ten o'clock,
a. m., the Fifth Corps, and First Division of our corps, now became hotly engaged,
and it was necessary that we should demonstrate against these works, develop the
enemy's force and draw him off from these points of attack. I was ordered to send out
one company to demonstrate against their pickets, which I did, and found the enemy
strongly picketed in our fiont, and that nothing but a heavy fire could drive them
away. I was then ordered to take out one or more regiments and attack at another
point. I took the One Hundred and Twentieth New York Volunteers, Elevenlh Massachusetts Volunteers, Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers, and Eighth New Jersey Volunteers, four regiments; took them under cover of the woods, and deployed in line of
battle; the One Hundred and Twentieth New York, Eleventh Massachusetts and one
wing of the Eighth New Jersey Volunteers, retaining the balance as a support, went
forward under a terrific fire of musketry, canister and shell; drove the enemy from
their rifle pits and occupied them for about half an hour, when we found them untena



200               NEW  JERSEY  AND  THE RBtELLIOi.
ble from the enemy's concentrated fire, and had to abandon these pits the best way we
could-as it was more dangerous to get out than to go in; on some parts of the line
one man at a time made good his escape; others were cut down in their attempts to get
back and quite a number were taken prisoners. Our loss was considerable. It was
not the intention to capture the works, but merely to demonstrate, and we did more
than was expected or desired. It had the desired effect in drawing the enemy towards
this point, which enabled General Miles to swing around on the enemy's right (our
left). My men and officers acted bravely. Lieutenant-Colonel Schoonover, although
on the reserve, had no less than fifteen men wounded by one shell. This was very
remarkable. Four o'clock, p. m., I moved to the left with the corps, and erected more
works. You see that as we could not attack the enemy's works with success we
pursued Grant's old plan of moving to the left to weaken their lines-which, at last,
caused the downfall of General Lee. We remained in this position all night.
"April 1st. At daylight we moved back to our old works on the plank road, and remained all day. There was no firing; all was quiet, and late in the evening we
went into the same position we had left in the morning, and demonstrated on the
enemy's lines until daylight Sunday morning. This first night of April I shall never
forget; it seemed as though all the demons of war had been let loose.  The roar
of artillery and musketry all night long-from  the Appomattox River, below
Petersburg, to our extreme left-was the most terrific 1 have ever heard. Not one
moment's rest did we get that night. No language can give you even a faint idea of
the noise of musketry and cannon on that battle night. The enemy weakened their
left in order to strengthen their right, and we expected the great attack would take
place on our front. While their troops were massing on our left, to defend their right,
we were massing on our right, to break their left. This General Lee did not expect.
"April 2d. This Sabbath morning dawned beautifully, but its gray light disclosed
to view two powerful armies arrayed in their full strength for the last time, in the great
and final struggle of the war. The sacredness of the day was not a barrier to the continuance of the contest, for the battle had already begun, and the dark clouds of war
were bursting here and there all along our lines. It was necessary that another demonstration should be made on my front. At eight o'clock, a. m., according to orders
to attack, I sent out one regiment, the Eighth New Jersey Volunteers, Major Hartford,
and went out to superintend it; advanced on the enemy's picket line, amidst a terrific
fire of musketry, canister and shell. Though the wounded and dead fell around us,
the regiment advanced, and captured the whole picket line in our front-one hundred
and sixty-five prisoners, and over two hundred muskets. The enemy still continued
their fire upon us, and we, in return, poured a raking fire into the redoubt in front,
and silenced their guns. I now sent back for two more regiments, (Eleventh Massachusetts and Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers,) and was preparing to charge their main
line of works, when the enemy run back their guns and commenced a retreat. We
advanced rapidly, and as I rode up to the works I found quite a number of white flags
hung out for protection by those who remained behind when the enemy left. We
took possession of the redoubt and a long line of works, and gathered up a large
number of prisoners. Besides being thus successful ourselves, we received splendid
news from all quarters that the day was ours, not only here but all along the lines.
Major Hartford had the honor of planting the Star Spangled Banner on the redoubt
we captured; and well he merited that honor. He evinced bravery and gallantry
worthy of the great cause in which he was engaged. It was yet very early in the day,
and what a glorious triumph had crowned our arms! For nine long months we had
been battling to accomplish this end, and the ground for miles along this line had been
consecrated by the best blood of our army. Thousands of our brave comrades had
fallen on this battle-field and were mouldering to dust beneath this ground; thousands
more were here maimed for life-to say nothing of the vast number who had been
here slightly wounded, nor of those who here died by disease. What a subject for
reflection! What a change had come over us; our stubborn enemy was now fast
retreating. We occupied their long line of works, and every soldier well knew that




THE SECOND BRIGADE.                               201
Petersburg was virtually ours. Half-past nine o'clock, p. m., we moved forward
along the Boydton plank road, crossed over Hatcher's Run, and passed the battleground of the 27th of October last to our right. After traveling a few miles we found
that the Sixth Corps had come to their left and our front and were driving the enemy,
who had gone in that direction. A number of prisoners and cannon were captured,
the enemy still making some resistance. We soon reached Petersburg, or rather close
on it. I remained in reserve with my brigade. The troops in our front threw up
works and all bivouacked for the night.
April 3d. There was little or no firing during the night, and the next morning, by
dawn of day, the mayor of the town came out and surrendered the place to the Sixth
Corps. Our boys cheered heartily. It was now ascertained that Lee was retreating
southward, and at eight o'clock, a. m., we were on the march after him-taking the
river road.
*     *      *      *      i -   *     *         *      *         X    *
April 9th, half-past three o'clock, p. m. IT WAS OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED THAL LEE HAD
SURRENDERED. What a scene followed. The excitement was beyond description.
Officers and men were perfectly wild. There were greetings, congratulations and
cheering; shoes and hats flew high in the air, speeches were called for loudly and
made, but could not be heard, the boys cheering at every sentence. The old flag
waved in triumph high and low, back and forth over a sea of up-turned faces. No
picture can portray, no language can describe that scene.  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
The following is General Humphrey's farewell order to the Second Corps:
HEADQUARTERS, SECOND ARMY CORPS, l
April 10, 1865.     <
"Officers and Soldiers of the Second Army Corps:
"I congratulate you on the glorious success that has attended the operations just
closed. While awaiting the expressions of approbation from the country, from the
Commander of the Armies, and of the Army of the Potomac, for the manner in which
you have performed your part in the general plan, I cannot refrain from expressions of
admiration at the noble spirit that has animated you throughout, at the brilliant cxhibition of the soldierly qualities for which the Second Corps has been conspicuous.
The rapid manner in which'you pressed the pursuit, from the moment the enemy was
discovered in retreat, driving him before you by constant combat, over an unknown
country, through dense undergrowth and swamp, from positions which his advanced
troops had entrenched, has, I believe, been unexampled. Being in direct pursuit, the
opportunities for large captures were not yours; but spite the disadvantages you
labored under, the results to the corps have been the capture of thirty-five guns, fifteen
fags and five thousand prisoners, and the capture or destruction of four hundred
wagons, with their contents, besides tents, baggage and other material, with which the
road was strewn for miles. In addition, you have contributed eminently to the general
success, and to the captures made by other corps, by hemming in the enemy and preventing his escape, and have done your full share in the grand closing scene. In the
operations before Petersburg, your success was brilliant. General Miles, with the
First Division, was ordered to advance and attack the enemy, flushed with success
over two divisions of another corps, which they were pressing back; this was done in
the promptest and most spirited manner. The enemy was driven back rapidly into his
entrenchments, with severe loss, in killed, wounded, and prisoners. In the plan of
general assault upon the enemy's lines, on the morning of the 2d of April, this corps
was not to attack; but, nevertheless, the Second Division, under General Hays, captured one of the enemy's redoubts, with two guns, and the Third Division, under
General Mott, less favorably placed, captured and held the entrenched rifle pits of the
pickets, under the fire of the main entrenchments. During the night of the 1st instant, General Miles, First Division, had been detached, under orders of Major-General
Sheridan, and, in the pursuit of the following day, attacked the enemy, entrenched in
a strong position, which was finally carried in the handsomest manner, with the capture of two guns, one flag and six hundred prisoners, These great successes have
26




2(2                NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
been gained with comparatively small loss, but the rejoicing for our victory is tempered by the reflection, that in that loss many noble spirits are counted.
" In this brief glance at what you have done, I cannot attempt to award to each the
full merit due, but must content myself with thanking the division commanders,
Major-General Miles, Major-General Mott, Major-General Barlow and Brigadier-General
De Trobriand, and the commander of the artillery, Lieutenant-Colonel Hazard, and,
through them, the troops they command. My thanks are also due to Brigadier-General
Hays, who commanded the Second Division when it carried the enemy's redoubt before Petersburg. While enjoying the satisfaction of having done your duty to your
country, it is a source of intense gratification to all, that the greatest military feat of
the country was reserved as a fitting climax to the great deeds of that army, of which
this corps has always formed a part, the Army of the Potomac.
A. A. HUMPHREYS,
Major-General Commanding.




CHAPTER VII.
THE NINTH  REGIMENT.
THE Ninth Regiment was raised under an authorization from  the
War Department to recruit a regiment of riflemen in this State.
Its recruitment was commenced  in  September, 1861, the  first
muster being made at Camp Olden, Trenton, on October 5th. It
remained at that camp, engaged in continuous drill, until December
4th,' when it proceeded to Washington, its rolls showing an aggregate  of  one  thousand  one hundred  and  forty-two  men.   The
regiment was armed with superior Springfield rifles, and was more
fully supplied with ambulances, forage wagons, &c., than any
regiment which, up to that time, had left the State. Arriving at
Washington  on  the  6th, it reported to General Casey, and was
The roster of the regiment, as mustered in, was as follows:
Colonel, Joseph W. Allen; Major, C. A. Heckman; Surgeon, F. W. Weller; Assistant Surgeon, Louis Braun; Adjutant, Abram Zabriskie; Quartermaster, Samuel Keyes;
Chaplain, Thomas Drumm. Company A-Captain, Herman Rumpf; First Lieutenant,
Charles Hayes; Second Lieutenant, Philip Spear. Company B-Captain, Cornelius
Castner; First Lieutenant, H. Bartholomew; Second Lieutenant, C. II. Sofield. Company C-Captain, Charles Hopkinson- First Lieutenant, E. S. Harris; Second Lieutenant, J. W. Cleft. Company )D-Captain, Thomas W. Middleton; First Lieutenant,
G. G. Irons; Second Lieutenant, Edgar Kissam. Company E —Captain, William Dehart; First Lieutenant, William H. Abel; Second Lieutenant, A. B. Beach. Company
F —Captain, William B. Curlies; First Lieutenant, August Thompson; Second Lieutenant, James W. Gibson. Company G-Captain, John P. Ritter; First Lieutenant,
William  Zimmerman; Second Lieutenant, William Benton.  Company Il-Captain,
John J. Henry; First Lieutenant, James Stewart, Jr.; Second Lieutenant, J. B.
Laurence. Company I-Captain, Henry F. Chew; First Lieutenant, Samuel Hufty, Jr.;
Second Lieutenant, E. M. Pinkard. Company K-Captain, Elias J. Drake; First Lieutenant, W. B. S. Boudinot; Second Lieutenant, Jonathan Townley, Jr. Company LCaptain, Charles Erb; First Lieutenant, Henry M. Heybold; Second Lieutenant,
Francis E. Adler.  Company 2l —Captain, J. M. McChesney; First Lieutenant,
Thomas Smith; Second Lieutenant, A. Cause.
Companies A and L were consolidated into the other ten companies, in November,
1862.




204           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
ordered into camp on the Bladensburg turnpike, about one mile
from the Capital, where it remained until January 4, 1862, when
it proceeded by rail to Annapolis, where a large portion of the
troops composing the famous Burnside Expedition had already
assembled. Here the regiment was assigned to the command of
Brigadier-General Jesse L. Reno, and on the 10th, having been
embarked on two vessels, sailed for Fortress Monroe. The expedition remained at that point until the 12th, when sail was made
for some point southward.   Many conjectures were ventured as to
the probable destination, it having been generally rumored and
credited that the expedition was designed to operate against Norfolk, then in possession of the enemy. All doubts, however, were
dispelled on the following day by the arrival of the fleet at Hatteras
Inlet, where it came to anchor. Soon after reaching this bleak
and barren sand-bar, a violent gale arose, the wind blowing fiercely
on shore, rendering the situation of those vessels which remained
outside of the inlet extremely hazardous. Extra anchors were
cast, but even this precaution did not avail to save several vessels
of the fleet, which were drifted ashore and became total wrecks.
The steamer City of New York, laden with ammunition, foundered
at the mouth of the inlet, while the Connecticut was sunk inside
the bar.  The steamer Pocahontas, laden with horses, on the
passage down was driven ashore in the gale, its engines having
become unmanageable, and but for the gallantry of Corporal
Samuel J. Dilkes, of Company K, of the Ninth, the lives of all on
board might have been lost. Dilkes, bravely swimming ashore
with a rope, fastened it securely by means of a stake driven firmly
into the sand, and so enabled the crew  to reach  the land
in safety. The cook, an aged colored woman, being unable in this
way to escape, Dilkes, with a heroism which filled all beholders
with admiration, returned to the ship, now rapidly going to pieces
and binding the frightened woman to his person, leaped into the
angry sea, and by almost superhuman exertions, succeeded in safely
reaching the shore, where he was hailed by his comrades with
deserved and the utmost enthusiasm.
On the following day, the 15th, the sea having somewhat calmed,




THE NINTH REGIMENT.                    205
Colonel Allen, Lieutenant-Colonel Heckman, Surgeon  Weller,
Adjutant Zabriskie and Quartermaster Keys, proceeded in the gig
of the Captain of the ship Ann E. Thompson to the shore, for the
purpose of reporting to General Burnside. The gig was manned
by a picked crew, in charge of the Captain, and contained twelve
persons in all. Having concluded their interview with the Generalin-chief, the party returned to their boat, which was rowed swiftly
and safely towards the ship until the breakers just outside of the
inlet were reached, when suddenly a heavy sea, or water-spout,
burst over the bow, sweeping to the stern, unshipping the oars, and
occasioning the greatest consternation among the passengers. Before the boat could be righted, a second and stronger wave struck
it from beneath, hurling it some distance in the air, and precipitating
all its occupants into the sea. The situation was fearful, indeed,
and the struggle with the seething waters desperate in the last
degree. WTith great difficulty, the boat was reached by several of
the party, and efforts made to right it; but this was soon found to be
impossible, owing to heavy swells which caused it to roll over and
over and defy any attempt to render it manageable. LieutenantColonel Heckman and Adjutant Zabriskie, being expert swimmers,
finding that Colonel Allen and Surgeon Weller were in greater
danger than others, made several heroic attempts to save their lives,
but all were unsuccessful, these officers, bravely struggling to the
last, going down into the watery depths. By this time the capsized
boat was drifting rapidly seaward, but the Lieutenant-Colonel and
the Adjutant finally succeeded in raising an oar, having fastened
thereon a sailor's shirt, which signal being shortly afterwards discovered, the alarm was given, and the steamer Patuxent at once
hastened to give assistance.  So overcome were the survivors by
their exertions, that upon reaching the decks of the steamer, some
of them sunk into insensibility, Lieutenant-Colonel Heckman remaining in a state of prostration for several days. The bodies of
Colonel Allen, Dr. Weller, and the second mate, who was also
drowned, were recovered during the day, and every effort made to
resuscitate them, but entirely without avail. On the very borders
of their career in the nation's service, these officers, around whom




206               NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
clustered so many precious hopes-whose lives seemed then of incalculable value to the command, had received their "discharge"
from service here, and gone to answer the roll-call above. To the
regiment, the blow was a severe and painful one, occasioning universal gloom;2 but the decree was unalterable, and submission is,
peculiarly, the soldier's duty.   The bodies of the Colonel and
Surgeon were temporarily interred on the banks of Hatteras, where
the wild winds of ocean chanted, day and night, solemn requiems,
but were subsequently  exhumed and carried  to New  Jersey, in
whose soil they have permanent rest.
Lieutenant-Colonel Heckman, without waiting to fully recover his
strength, at once assumed command of the regiment, and prepared
to lead it to victory. On the morning of the 16th, the brigantine
Dragon, having on board five companies of the Ninth, attempted
to enter the inlet, but struck upon the bar, where she pitched
heavily for several hours.  Great fears were  entertained for the
safety of the ship until the steamer Patuxent hove in sight, attracted
by the flashes of the rifles, which were being fired under direction
of Sergeant Thomas Burnet.  Upon the quarter-deck, wrapped in
2 The intelligence of the loss of these officers occasioned an equally profound gloom
in all parts of New Jersey, and especially at the Capital, where the Colonel was widely
known and esteemed. The Legislature was in session at the time the news was received, and for several days the sad event was the theme of universal comment.
Colonel Joseph W. Allen was born in Bristol, Pennsylvania, in 1812, but had been
for many years a citizen of New Jersey, residing at Bordentown, in Burlington County.
He had been, during his later years, prominently identified with political affairs, and
for six years represented his County in the State Senate. Educated as a civil engineer,
many important works had been entrusted to him, and executed with signal ability.
Among these were railroad enterprises in Mississippi and Alabama, the Harper's Ferry
and Cumberland road, the Flushing (L. I.) Railroad, and the Dundee (New Jersey) water
works. In all the stations which he had been called upon to fill, he had exhibited proficiency, industry and good judgment, and had he been spared, his services in the
army must have proved of marked value and secured him a still higher place in the
confidence of the public. There were circumstances of peculiar sadness connected
with Colonel Allen's death. From the time that Fort Sumter was fired upon, until his
untimely death, he gave all his thoughts and all his time to his country. He had long
held the position of Deputy Quartermaster-General, but hitherto his military office
had been merely nominal. Now, his entire energies were devoted to the forwarding
of troops. He soon found it necessary to relinquish his business, which was bringing
him a salary of four thousand dollars per annum, and never more urgently required
his attention. When asked if he could look at his family and still say, "Country
first," he replied, "In these times every man must say'country first'-and that for
the sake of his family." From the time he sailed on the ill-fated expedition, his wife,
with a prophetic solicitude, mourned him as lost, nor hardly did the announcement




THE NINTH  REGIMENT.                            207
a heavy blue overcoat, stood the ubiquitous Burnside, field-glass
in hand, his face plainly betraying the intensesanxiety which he
felt for the safety of his command.  A  line was finally thrown to
the steamer, and a hawser attached, when the brig was drawn off
the dangerous reef into deep water.3  In  less than an hour, the
vessel was anchored  safely  within  the  harbor, the men  being
greeted with deafening cheers by their more fortunate comrades
who had already arrived.  On the 21st, the remainder of the regiment, seven companies, arrived in the Ann E. Thompson, which,
however, had great difficulty in entering the inlet.
A comparatively small strait, as a reference to the map will
show, separates the  two  majestic  Sounds, called  Pamlico  and
Albemarle.  In the center of this strait lies Roanoke Island, twelve
miles long and three miles broad. The channel on either side is
narrow  and tortuous, so that the island effectually commands the
passage between the two sounds. On this island the rebels were in
force, with batteries, entrenchments and gunboats, and these it was
designed by Burnside to capture or destroy.
On the 6th of February, all the vessels having arrived, signal
of his actual death add to her grief. The monument which was placed over his remains in the graveyard attached to Christ (Episcopal) Church, Bordentown, by the
officers of his regiment, is a remarkable evidence of the attachment and respect of his
companions in arms, having been erected by them two years after his death, and when
it might have been thought that subsequent stirring events, and the terrible scenes
through which they had passed and were passing, would have distracted their thoughts
and diverted their intentions. The monument is an elegant structure, fifteen feet six
inches in height. The base is of Pennsylvania marble, and the rest of the monument
of the best white Italian marble. There are appropriate carvings in base-relief of flags,
muskets, shield and masonic emblems, with cross swords, and an ivy and oak wreath.
The inscriptions are as follows: 1. " Joseph W. Allen, Colonel Ninth Regiment New
Jersey Volunteers. Drowned at Hatteras, North Carolina, January 15th, A. D. 1862,
in the fifty-first year of his age."  2. "This monument is erected by the officers of
the Ninth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers, as a tribute of grateful respect to the
memory of their first commander, who, while faithfully serving his country in the
darkest hours of her peril, even to the sacrifice of his life, endeared himself to the
hearts of his whole command." 3. "January 1st, A. D. 1864." 4. "This record of
the unreturning past is dedicated with kindly heart to thee."
Surgeon Frederick A. Weller, who also perished, was born at Paterson, in 1817, and
at the time he entered the army, was in the enjoyment of a lucrative practice in that
city. He was a gentleman of great intelligence and private worth, and his death was
widely mourned.
s The men accounted for this deliverance by saying, "Burnside is at the helm," his
presence inspiring all with confidence.




208           NEW JERSEY AND TEI  REBELLION.
was made, and the fleet steamed directly up Pamlico Sound, the
dozen gunboats, Under command of Commodore Goldsborough,
taking the advance. Never before had these placid waters been
disturbed by so formidable a fleet.  Every vessel being gaily
decked in its trimmest bunting, the spectacle was most imposing,
while the spirits of the troops were vastly elated, at once by the
novelty of the scene and the prospect of immediate service. At
sunset the fleet anchored off a point of shoals, some twelve miles
from Roanoke Island.  On the following morning, the fleet was
early under way, the signal, " To-day the country expects every
man to do his duty," flying at the mast-head of the flag-ship. At
nine o'clock, the advance gunboats opened on the picket-boats of
the enemy, which were speedily driven  through the weaker
obstructions, to the cover of the land batteries on the island. At
half-past ten o'clock, the gunboats, having come fairly within range,
made a general attack upon the enemy's fleet and the batteries
which lined the shore, the latter replying vigorously. This combat
continued until three in the afternoon, when the boats were
lowered, and the First Brigade (General Foster) immediately rowed
to the shore, followed by the Second Brigade, under General Reno,
in small boats. The forces encountering no opposition upon landing, marched without delay, toiling for some distance through a
heavy swamp, until at length solid ground was reached. Here a
brisk skirmish ensued, the enemy falling back upon his main body,
entrenched in a well-constructed  earthwork, (Center Battery,)
surrounded by a dense swamp an'd undergrowth of laurel and
scrubs, and the Union army of three brigades bivouacked for the
night in a corn-field, a heavy storm beating piteously upon the
unprotected men, who suffered greatly from the rain and cold.
At six o'clock on the morning of the 8th, Foster's Brigade advanced and engaged the enemy. The advance was one of great
difficulty, the narrow road leading through a dense swamp, intersected
here and there by ponds and streams of water, while on either side
of it, in the dense undergrowth, rebel skirmishers were stationed,
keeping up a continuous fire. The column, however, pushed
steadily forward, pushing the enemy from  the undergrowth and




TiE NINTIt REGIMENST.                  209
finally driving him behind his works; but here the advance was
checked. Foster being only able to answer the well-directed artillery
and musketry fire of the enemy with small arms, his command
suffered severely, and to add to his difficulty, the nature of the
swamp was such as to prevent any proper formations for assault,
even should that course be otherwise advisable. Meanwhile, the
men of the Second Brigade, who remained inactive about half a
mile from the scene of hostilities, waited eagerly for orders to
advance to the relief of their comrades; but they did not come.
Presently, in their stead, stretchers supporting the dead and dying
were carried to the rear. For a moment, the spectacle caused the
stoutest hearts to shudder. These, be it remembered, were raw
troops, unused to battle-scenes, and withal were but feeble-handed,
with perhaps overwhelming numbers arrayed against them.  But
the tremor was but for a moment. At eight o'clock, as the firing
at the front grew more heavy, a courier appeared and delivered to
Colonel Heckman, walking impatiently at the head of his one
thousand two hundred riflemen, an order directing him to pass the
Fifty-First New York and report at the front to General Foster,
which was immediately done, the regiment marching forward with
the utmost alacrity.  Soon after, under orders from Foster, the
regiment entered the swamp on the left of the causeway, and, up
to their hips in mud and water, advanced to the edge of the timber,
about one hundred yards from the fort, commanding the road,
which up to this time still defied our assaults. Here the regiment,
having been previously formed by division, opened a vigorous fire
on the enemy, which was returned for a time with great vehemence.
Presently, however, owing to the heavy fire of the 9th, the musketry
fire from the fort visibly slackened, but the batteries still poured a
storm of shot and shell into our rianks.  Under these circumstances,
Colonel Heckman directed that particulv attention should be given
to picking off the cannoneers, and the result was soon apparent.
So accurate was the fire of the men that the rebel guns were now
but seldom discharged, and then altogether regardless of their aim.
One gunner, more obstinate and daring than his fellows, continuing
to annoy the regiment, three sharp-shooters, of Company D, were
27




210               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
placed in a good position and directed to fire at the first fair
opportunity. A minute or two passed, when the rebel was seen to
seize the match and a second after to apply it to his piece.  Four
reports followed simultaneously-one, that of the rebel gun, which
carried death into the Union ranks; the others those of the sharpshooters' rifles, whose bullets pierced the head of the gunner, who
fell dead across his piece. The name'of this determined rebel was
Lieutenant Selden, of Wise's Legion.  But his last shot, fatal as it
had proved to him, had done fearful execution.  Sweeping throughl
the swamp, the deadly  missile severed the two legs of Corporal
John Lorence,' and one of Jonathan Bural, of the same company,
(K,) and passing on, killed young Blackwell, of Company F, and
Captain Joseph J. Henry, of Company H, though no marks or bruises
could be distinguished on the person of the gallant officer, who fell,
as he would have chosen to fall, at the head of his division.  The
last words of Blackwell were, "Remember thy God," uttering which
he fell back and expired  in the arms of his brother, who fought
bravely at his side.
The fighting still continued, but at eleven o'clock, it being ascertained that the enemy was retreating, Colonel HIeckman made his
dipositions for an assault, and the order to charge was given.  But
just at that moment the  Ninth was fired  upon  from  the rear,
causing a momentary confusion, but the fire being ascertained to
come from  Hawkins' Zouaves, the alarm  subsided, and the men
4 A letter from Captain J. Townlcy, Jr., of the Ninth, says:
"Few cases of greater individual courage are rccordcd than that of Corporal Lorence,
of Carpenter's Landing. In the early part of the action at Roanoke, both of his legs
were shot off just below the knees. As lie was carried to the rear, his shattered limbs
dangling in the bushes, lec repeatedly said to the men passiing on to the conflict, witll
all the energy lie could command,' Go in, boys, go in; give it to them; I can't do any
more.' IIe was taken to the Surgeon's tent in the back-ground, where his limbs were
amputated and dressed. At length, the shout of victory rang through the forest. The
Corporal ilquired,' Who has won?' and upon being told that the rebels were running,
raised himself on his stumps, swuir his cap over his head, and, with an enthusiasm
that thrilled every beholder, gave three cheers for the Union and the New Jersey
Ninth! General Burnside being informed of the Corporal's brave conduct, visited him
several times in the hospital, as did many other officers. Once when I was with him,
as lie lay suffering, lie said that if his limbs would only heal, he would procure' a pair
of wooden legs and fight on them.' Of this I told General Burnside, who came in
just at that moment, and who replied,'Corporal Lorence has done enough for his
country; it is time now for the country to do somethling for him.' "




THE NINTH  REGIMENT.                            211
were steadily advancing when they again received a volley from
the rear, several falling under the fire.   Such a mistake, twice
repeated, naturally excited the deepest indignation, but the officers
finally calmed the excited Zouaves, and the Ninth succeeded in
escaping further casualties at the hands of their friends, though,
strange to say, the latter were with difficulty restrained from firing
a third time. This mishap necessarily delayed the progress of the
regiment, and it was the second to enter the fort, whereas, but for
this, it would have been the first to plant the flag over the captured
works.  From  first to last, the conduct of the Ninth was in the
highest courageous.  The enemy, after the battle, admitted that
they had never supposed a body of troops could operate in the
swamp, and it was, undoubtedly, the occupation of this swamp,
by which operations upon  the rebel flank became possible, which
secured the great success of the day.
On  being  driven  from  the fort, the enemy  retreated  to  the
immediate fortifications along the shore, but finding that further
resistance would be useless, they surrendered, giving into our hands
five forts, thirty-three pieces of artillery and two thousand eight
hundred prisoners.  Of the latter, and the fact is significant, but
one hundred and seventeen were able to write their names.  The
victory, however, had a greater value than a mere acquisition of
war material.  By the capture of the island, we gained the key
to all the inland waters of North Carolina, thus interrupting communications which at that time were essential to the enemy.
The  Ninth  lost in  this  battle!line killed, and  twenty-five
wounded.;
John S. C. Abbott, in a paper published in lfapeyi's M:Iauy.i)(, and Greeley, in his
iwAmerica?  Coeflict, both give the credit of the operations here performed by the Ninth,
to Hawkins' Zouaves, who, in fact, as appears in this narrative, had no part whatever
therein, except to annoy and embarrass the assailing columln.
(; The following, from a correspondent of the Newark Dl)a ily Adtd'etiNs, pr1servles
some interesting incidents of the battle of Roanoke:
"By an order of General Burnside, promulgated on the evening of February 10th,
the Ninth Regiment are to have the words'Roanoke Island, February 8, 1862,' emblazoned on their banners. The only ordnance vwhich could be brought to bear upon
the enemy, owing to the deep morass which our troops traversed, and the almost impenetrable thickets, was a small rifled-cannon, manned altogether by men detailed
from the Ninth. Besides, the gunboat which did the most execution to the fort that




212              NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
The brigade remained on the island until early in March, being
daily exercised in drill, which brought it to a high state of efficiency
and thoroughly qualified it for the fatigues of the campaign upon
which it was soon to enter.  On the 11th of March, having a few days
previously embarked on vessels in waiting, it sailed down the
sound to Hatteras Inlet, entering the mouth of the Neuse River on
the following day, and anchoring at Slocum's Creek, eighteen miles
from  Newberne, which place, lying at the junction of the Neuse
and Trent Rivers, it was designed to reduce. On the following day
the troops were landed, and the gunboats moving up the river in
advance, took up the line of march, dispersing a company of rebel
cavalry near the landing, and halting fourteen miles distant, in
front of a long line of entrenched works, extending from the Neuse
River across the railroad to an almost impenetrable swamp, which
connects Newberne with Morehead City, with strong fgts at either
flank, and defended by fifteen cannon.  The troops taking position
during the night, on the morning of the 14th the column moved
to the attack, firing  commencing  on the right first, at eight
o'clock.  Reno's Brigade, after marching some two miles, filed off
to the left, and entering the woods, formed line of battle, the Fiftyfirst Pennsylvania, Colonel Hartranft, being held in the rear as a
support to the Ninth, which was thus given the extreme left of the
line.  At nine o'clock the brigade advanced to within two hundred
yards of the enemy's works, when it opened a sharp fire of musketry
with  telling effect; the enemy  meanwhile  replying with much
vigor, having five guns bearing on our position.  Discovering a
movement on his left flank, Colonel Heckman reversed his left
was attacked on Friday, had her guns manned by Jerseymen, detailed from the Ninth.
On the 10th ultimo, this detail asked to be sent back to their regiment, but the Commodore said,' the Jersey Blues had shown themselves too good managers of the big
guns to allow him to part with them; that they were true blues, and no mistake.' Consequently, they remained. One Jerseyman, who had been wounded by a bullet through
the head, said it was not much, and walked alone back to the hospital tent, as he said,' to get something to keep the blood out of his eyes, when he would come back to his
company.' The poor fellow fell dead just as he got to the tent. Another, who was
shot through the body, and was being attended to by the surgeons, asked to be' carried
back where he could fire upon the enemy.' Still another, belonging to Company K,
when required by the Surgeon to stay and assist him in dressing the wounded, cried
like a child, and begged to be permitted to' go into the fight and not play mumn.'




THE NINTH REGIMENT.                    213
wing in time to repel a fierce attack from the enemy, whereupon
Colonel Hartranft promptly placed his regiment on the prolongation of this line. The Ninth then resumed the direct attack, and
soon silenced the rebel guns, our sharpshooters picking off their
gunners with fatal accuracy of aim.  The rebel infantry, however,
redoubled their exertions and fought more vigorously than ever.
During this time several desperate charges were made by a portion
of Reno's Brigade on the right, but all were repelled with considerable loss. One of these charges, and the most gallant of them
all, was made by the Twenty-first Massachusetts, which succeeded
in entering the redoubt on the north side of the railroad, but were
driven out at the point of the bayonet by a brigade of Georgians.
By this time the ammunition of the Ninth being reduced to ten
rounds, General Reno ordered up the Fifty-first Pennsylvania to
take its place, but Colonel Heckman begging that he might be permitted to charge, the order was finally given. That charge settled
the contest. Dashing eagerly forward, leaping from ditch to ditch,
now wading knee-deep in mire, now rushing over pit-falls, through
an almost impenetrable abattis, the irresistible assailants swept up to
the earthworks, climbed their blood-stained, slippery sides, and a
moment after had captured the whole line of fortifications in their
front, with six guns, one stand of colors, many prisoners, and field,
staff and artillery horses. Almost simultaneously the flags of the
Ninth waved from two of the enemy's redans, while the right
guidon floated from a third, which but a moment before had been
occupied by the enemy.  The Ninth was followed by the Fifty-first
New York, Colonel Ferrero, on the right, and soon after by the
entire division, which took complete possession of fhe rebel works,
mounting some sixty-nine cannon. Having thus gained possession
of the main line of the enemy's defences, Burnside next turned his
attention to the river batteries in the rear, but these were at once
evacuated, and both the land and water approaches to Newberne
being thus opened, all that remained was to march in and take
possession. This was done in the evening, the Ninth, however,
going into camp at the junction of the Trent and Neuse Rivers,
some four miles from  the line of the captured works. In this




$14               NEW  JERSEY  AND  THE REBELLION.
engagement, the regiment lost four killed and fifty-eight wounded,
one-sixth  of  the  entire  Union  loss.   Among  the  killed  was
Lieutenant W. C. Walker.7
Two days after this battle, Lieutenant-Colonel Heckman received
his commission as Colonel of the regiment, while Major Wilson was
notified  of his promotion  to  the  Lieutenant-Colonelcy.  At the
same time, Adjutant Zabriskie was promoted to the Majority, and
Lieutenant Abel, of Company E, was made Adjutant.  The regiment remained in camp until the 1st of April, when it proceeded
to Newport Barracks, relieving the Fifth Rhode Island on duty at
that post.  The headquarters  of the  regiment remained  at the
barracks during the siege of Fort Macon, while various companies
were engaged  in  picket-duty, guarding  all approaches from  the
direction  of Wilmington, and losing during these operations nine
Among the incidents of this battle the following may be mentioned: A rebel battery, in front of Company H, having given considerable annoyance, Captain James
Stewart, Jr., (afterwards Brigadier-General,) seized a rifle, and, watching his opportunity, shot a rebel cannoneer through the head.  On entering the battery, shortly
after, the dead body was found and recognized as that of Captain William C. Martin, a
rebel renegade from New Jersey.
The New York Tribune, in speaking of this battle, made the followino candid statement:
" In the capture of Newbernc, the Ninth New Jersey Regiment sustained the honor
of their State with characteristic gallantry. Though their position in that brilliant
engagement was one of great exposure, they bore themselves through the conflict like
veterans, suffering more severely than any other regiment on the field. Out of a total
loss of three hundred and sixty-four killed and wounded, they lost sixty-two, or onesixth of the whole, although twelve regiments were in the battle.  Bravo for the
Jersey Blues!"
A correspondent of the Newark Daily Advertisei, said of the battle:
"I never calculated upon witnessing more cool, substantial, effective bravery, than
was exhibited by the New Jersey Ninth on that day. Private Luke Davison, of Company
K, from Princeton, was shot through the foot, the ball passing clear through the middle,
near the instep. He fell, and was ordered to be carried to the rear; but he refused to
go, and went on loading and firing very deliberately, until a peremptory order to go
back was given. Private Thomas Macquaid, of Elizabeth, was struck by a spent ball
on the shoulder, and tumbled down; but, when being carried back, he suddenly broke
away and said,' Let me take off my coat and see that first;' and finding the shoulder
much swollen, he went on a few steps and concluded to' take another look,' when he
said he' guessed he'd take a few more shots,' came back and fought bravely until the
victory was won. Sergeant Joseph Wright was shot through the shoulder, and sat
down in his place a moment, and then slowly turned to his commander, saying, very
coolly, almost drily,'Captain, I am wounded.'  That officer finding his company
pretty well cut up, and not wishing to send back more men with the wounded than
was absolutely necessary, asked'if he was much hurt?'' He didn't know,' he said,' but thought he would let the Surgeon see,' and had gone some distance, when he returned, saying,' Captain, may I take my rifle with me?' Of course he could."




THE NINTH REGIMENT.                        215
enlisted men  as prisoners.  Now  and then bands of guerrillas
attacked the outposts, and expeditions were sent out for their capture, being, however, for the most part fruitless of " game."
On the 26th of July, six companies of the Ninth, three companies of cavalry and two pieces of artillery, all under command of
Colonel Heckman, started on an expedition to Young's Cross Roads,
some thirty-six miles distant, with instructions to co operate with
other forces sent out from Newberne.  Reaching the Cross Roads
on the following day, Colonel Heckman disposed his infantry in
ambush, and then, at the head of a company of cavalry, proceeded
some distance down the Onslow road.  Suddenly, however, upon
turning a bend of the road, he was assailed by a volley from a party
of bushwhackers, causing him  to retire.  A  dozen or two of the
cavalrymen were promptly dismounted and deployed as skirmishers,
but upon advancing it was found that the enemy had retreated
across White Oak River, destroying the bridge after crossing.
Meanwhile, Captain Iufty, hearing the firing, hastened up with
two companies and one gun; this was put in position, and at once
opened with canister on the enemy posted on the opposite bank,
while parties were detailed to find a ford. The water being found
too deep and rapid to be forded, I-eckman hastily rebuilt the bridge,
and at the expiration of an hour, Captain Hufty dashed across on
the double-quick, only to find, however, that the enemy had again
retreated, leaving in their hasty flight a quantity of small arms,
sabers, &c., together with several horses. Eighteen prisoners were
taken, who reported the rebel force to number three hundred men.
The Union loss was seven wounded. two severely, while the enemy
lost four killed and eighteen wounded.  Among the wounded were
Colonel Heckman and Surgeon Woodhull-the latter of whom  received two balls in his body and another in his hat, his horse being
also badly hurt.8  After the engagement, the captured guns were
While many of the surgeons of New Jersey regiments achieved eminence during
the war, none attained to a higher place in the esteem of their superiors, or rendered
more signal services in their sphere of duty than Doctor A. W. Woodhull, of the
Ninth. When the first call for troops was made, Doctor Woodhull had just attained to
a profitable practice in the city of Newark, where he had located but a few years
previously; but, born near a revolutionary battle-ground of the State and patriotic




216                NEW  JERSEY  AND THE  REBELLION.
examined and each found to be loaded with seven buckshot and
two minie bullets.
in every instinct of his nature, he at once abandoned the prospect opened before him,
and offering his services to Governor Olden, was appointed (August 23, 1861,) AssistantSurgeon of the Fifth Regiment. He continued in this position, serving most acceptably, until February 6, 1862, when he was made Surgeon of the Ninth, but was unable
to reach his new field of labor until after the battle of Newberne. There, in the crowded
hospitals, among the wounded and suffering, he found ample employment for his skill;
and he did not shrink from the task. Unremitting in his labors, faithful and gentle
in his attentions-never neglecting a single duty-he won rapidly upon the confidence
and esteem of all in distress, and soon, unconsciously to himself, came to exert a
commanding influence both over the well and the sick. He understood, as many do
not, that a kind word, a sympathetic touch, an ennobling thought dropped in the
craving heart, is oftentimes a better medicine than any known to the schools, and many
to whom he, as a Christian healer, spoke a word in season, think of him to-day with
blessings on their lips.
At the time when Doctor Woodhull reached North Carolina, there were comparatively
few surgeons at Newberne, and consequently there was little relaxation from labor
for those stationed at that post. Among them all none displayed greater skill in the
treatment of serious cases than Doctor Woodhull, and this soon coming to the attention of General Burnside, he was at once appointed to a position of great responsibility,
in which he exhibited administrative qualities of a high order. Under his supervision
hospitals were arranged, which for convenience, comfort and character of accommodations, were not surpassed by any in use, while their government was in all respects
commendable. When wounded at Young's Cross Roads, he was not more than one
hundred yards distant from the enemy, but managed to effect his escape under a
shower of balls, when, notwithstanding his hurts, which were serious, one rib being
broken and one arm disabled, he dressed the wounds of every man injured in the
engagement before leaving the field. In the fall, he was appointed Surgeon in Charge
of the Hammond General Hospital at Beaufort, where he remained until the departure
of Generals Foster and Heckman for South Carolina. Upon taking the field, he was
made Surgeon of Heckman's Star Brigade, in which capacity he served with fidelity
for a long time. In the summer of 1863, in addition to his other duties, he superintended the erection of Mansfield General Hospital at Morehead City, which was
pronounced a model institution of its kind. In the summer of 1864, he served with
the brigade in Virginia, and upon returning to North Carolina in the autumn of that
year, when the yellow fever was raging at Newberne, he at once offered to assist in the
work of combating and extinguishing the epidemic, and through the whole period of
its ravages was found constantly at his post.
As exhibiting the arduous nature of Doctor Woodhull's duties, it may be stated that
during a part of the time he was in the field, he was obliged to ride a distance of sixty
miles, in order to reach all his posts-this duty being uniformly performed twice a
week. But it is in the medical statistics of the regiment that we find the most conclusive evidence of his diligence and skill. These show, that during the time he was
connected with the regiment, but three men died in camp or regimental hospital in
each year, making nine in all, and this, too, when but few were sent to the general
hospital. This was doubtless due to the unceasing care with which Surgeon Woodhull looked after the habits of the men, the condition of their quarters, the injunctions he always gave the soldiers to attend early to any indisposition they might feel,
and the pertinacity with which he insisted upon daily inspecting the processes for preparing food. These, after all, were the really important duties of a Regimental Surgeon. On the 13th of March, 1865, Doctor Woodhull was brevetted LieutenantColonel, the honor coming to him unsolicited, and, therefore, so much the more valuable.




THE NINTH REGIMENT.                           217
The expedition from Newberne not being heard from, and provisions growing scarce, Colonel Heckman returned with his command
to the city, whence several reconnoitering parties were sent out
during the following month, but without any material results. On
the 31st of August, Lieutenant Thomas Burnett, commanding
Company B, was attacked by a large force of rebels about two miles
from the camp, but after an hour's fighting, succeeded in driving
them.  A corporal of the company was shot in the hand.  Subsequently, two companies under Lieutenant B. W. Hopper, went in
pursuit of the rebels, capturing two guerrillas and taking fifty stand
of arms.9  From this time until the 30th of October, the regiment
was not actively engaged. On that day a force of some thirteen
thousand men, under Major-General John G. Foster, started on
an expedition for Tarborough-two brigades being transported by
water to Washington, and a third marching overland.~  All the
troops having come up on the morning of November 2d, the column
moved forward, encountering and dispersing squads of rebel rangers
as it advanced. After marching some nineteen miles, it becarne
evident that an engagement was imminent, the rebels increasing
both in numbers and audacity. About four o'clock, the advance
was checked by a heavy fire from the opposite side of a deep creek,
on which a large force of the enemy had posted themselves to dispute the passage of the stream, having already fired the bridge.
Colonel Stevenson, commanding  the  Second  Brigade,  ordered
forward the Forty-Fourth Massachusetts, but this regiment, after
9 A very pleasant episode in the camp history of the Ninth occurred on the same
day. The regiment being drawn up for parade, Colonel Heckman was surprised by
the presentation of an elaborately ornamented sword, the gift of the line officers-the
presentation address being made by Captain Boudinot. The sword cost seven hundred
dollars, and was ever afterwards worn with pride by the Colonel. On the following
day, a handsome sword, with sash and belt, was presented to Captain James Stewart
by his company-Corporal J. E. Matthews performing the presentation ceremony.
10 This force consisted of the First Brigade, Colonel Amory, composed of the Eighth,
Seventeenth, Twenty-Third and Twenty-fifth Massachusetts; the Second Brigade,
Colonel Thomas Stevenson, composed of the Twenty-fourth and Forty-fourth Massachusetts, Tenth Connecticut and Fifth Rhode Island; and the Third Brigade, Colonel
Lee, composed of the Third, Fifth and Twenty-seventh Massachusetts, and the Ninth
New Jersey, with five hundred cavalry, five full batteries of artillery, and a section of
boat howitzers, in command of Lieutenant-Colonel Manchester, of the Marine Artillery.
28




218             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
a brief engagement, retired, whereupon the Twenty-fourth Massachusetts was advanced.  But it, too, was soon forced to fall back,
before a galling fire, behind the swamp across which it was necessary to advance; and again the Ninth New Jersey was ordered to
the rescue.' At the word of command, with Heckman in advance,
the brave Jerseymen rushed on the run through the files of the
Twenty fourth  and Forty-fourth, dashed past the fort of the
enemy, and passing the still burning bridge, halted under a high
clay bank, beyond the swamp near Rowles' Mills.  Here parties
were at once detailed to discover convenient fords above and
below'the bridge; a third party, under Lieutenant Abel, to examine
the condition of that structure; and a fourth, under Lieutenant
A. B. Brown, to start the mill near by, for the purpose of drawing
off the water from the dam. Lieutenant Abel reporting that the
river could be crossed by infantry, Heckman placed Belger's Napoleons in position, and then as the pieces opened with double-shotted
canister, dashed upon and over the burning bridge into the works
of the rebels, who fled precipitately before him-leaving a considerable quantity of property behind. Darkness coming on, it was
impossible to pursue the foe, and Angel's Battery having crossed
and taken position, the Ninth bivouacked on the field.  Few
achievements of the North Carolina campaign were more gallant
than this passage of a burning bridge and rout of the enemy,
strongly posted, by a single regiment.
From this point, the expedition moved forward, on the 3d, in
the direction of Tarborough, learning on the way that the enemy
was retreating in great confusion.  On the 5th, the force reached a
point only four miles distant from Tarborough, but a storm coming
on, and it being ascertained that the enemy had been largely reinforced, it was determined  to return, which was done without
molestation  or loss, other than that inflicted by the storm-the
Ninth reaching Newport on the 12th.
11 General Foster, commanding the expedition, remarked: "I know I have one
regiment here which can and dares to cross this swamp," and at the same time sent
his orders to Colonel Heckman, commanding the Ninth. In and through went the
men of the Ninth, but on coming to the other side, it seemed as if the rebels had
heard the remark made and order given, for no rebel was to be seen.-Diarcy of Iergmann Everts.




THE NINTH REGIMENT.                    219
On the 8th of December, Colonel Heckman was assigned to an
independent command, consisting of the Ninth New  Jersey, a
detachment of the Third New York Cavalry, Major Cole, and the
First Rhode Island Battery, Captain James Belger, and three days
after, at the head of his command, set out, together with all the
troops available for duty, (some twelve thousand,) on a march
directly inland. The object of this movement, in which a large force
participated, was to reach and destroy, if possible, the important
railroad junction at Goldsborough, some forty miles distant. On
this as on the previous march, squads of rebel videttes were encountered, some of whom were captured, but no evidences of serious
opposition were discovered until a point some sixteen miles distant
from Newberne was reached, where the road was found effectually
blockaded by fallen timber. After a hasty reconnoissance, Heckman
determined to push the Ninth through the obstructions, and the
regiment accordingly moved forward, the men leaping from tree to
tree and from branch to branch, sometimes in water, oftener in mud
and mire. Finally, just at dark, the regiment emerged into an open
space, where pickets were at once strongly posted on the roads
leading to Kinston and Trenton, with instruction to conceal themselves, and on the approach of any small party of the enemy, to
permit him to pass and then close up-thus cutting off his line
of retreat.  Here the command remained until the following morning, when, the obstructions having been removed, the march was
resumed, the advance soon coming up with detachments of rebel
cavalry, who sharply contested its progress, but were steadily driven
with loss-several being killed and a number captured.  Reaching
a point ten miles from Kinston, on the morning of the 13th,
Colonel Heckman, with the entire cavalry force and a section of the
Third New  York Artillery-the main column continuing the
advance on the main road-made a detour to the left, on the Trent
road, for the purpose of cutting off any reinforcements in that
direction, and, if possible, attacking the enemy in flank should he
be found in position. After proceeding some six miles, he found
the rebels in an entrenched position on the opposite side of Southwest Creek-the bridge over which had been destroyed-and at




220            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
once ordering the cavalry to dismount, speedily drove the rebel
skirmishers into their works-after which a section of artillery was
brought into action and a vigorous fire opened on the enemy.
Major Coles, with his dismounted cavalry, having  meanwhile
approached to within short musket range of the enemy's works,
had discovered several pieces of artillery and a considerable body
of infantry, and this discovery seeming to make a direct attack
unwise, Colonel Heckman directed Morrison's Battery also to open,
which was done in an effective manner, the enemy responding with
equal spirit. While this was going on, three companies of the
Ninth were deployed to the left of the enemy along the bank of
the creek, with instructions to cross and attack in flank the moment
that Morrison's Artillery ceased its fire. A mill-dam having been
discovered on the rebel right, the remainder of the regiment was
placed in a convenient position for crossing at that point, awaiting
the signal to advance-the movement being supported by Wessel's
Brigade.  At length the firing ceased, and the Ninth cautiously
crossed the dam, pressing straight up to the rebel works, when,
being discovered by the enemy, they dashed with a cheer right
against the foe, the last of whom passed safely out, as the assailants
climbed through the embrasures into the fortifications.2  Thus
once more the gallant Heckman, with a handful of men, had put
the enemy to flight, capturing a strong position, defended by two
thousand five hundred men and one piece of artillery. But only
a moment was given to exultation, when the Ninth again started
forward. Upon turning a bend in the road, some five hundred
yards from the works, it received a charge of grape and canister
from a twelve-pounder, but a minute after, members of Company
A were astride the gun, clubbing the gunners with their muskets.
The drivers, succeeding in extricating their horses, managed to join
the main force, which was now retreating in great disorder, the
rear guard, however, being soon overtaken, and a large number
captured, together with a caisson, a guidon and other trophies.
The pursuit was kept up with great vigor for a considerable distance,
12 A rebel officer was heard to exclaim to his men, "There comes that Dutch Heckman. You had better save yourselves while yer have the time."




THE NINTH REGIMIENT.                   221
when, an open country being reached, Heckman halted and awaited
the arrival of the column. Later in the day he moved across the
open space at the head of a squadron of cavalry, and coming upon
the enemy posted in the timber, again ordered up the Ninth, the
right wing of which, deploying, dislodged the rebels, with the loss
of but one man wounded.
The advance had now reached a point within only two or three
miles of Kinston, where the enemy was concentrated in large
force, and strongly posted in the woods. On the following morning,
at seven o'clock, the skirmishers of the Ninth, once more advancing,
again entered the heavy timber, shortly after becoming warmly
engaged along the entire line. Hotly pressing the skirmishers
of the enemy, the Ninth, iar in advance of the main body, was
suddenly fired upon by several pieces of heavy artillery, posted on
rising ground about a mile from  the bridge leading across to
Kinston.  Satisfied that his further advance would be vigorously
disputed, Colonel Heckman, after wading the swamp, fronting the
enemy's line, and finding the position to be naturally a strong one,
covered by an almost impenetrable swamp on three sides, and the
Neuse River on the other, and defended by artillery and a large
force of infantry, ordered up Morrison's Battery with a brigade of
infantry as a support. The battery being placed in a commanding
position, at once opened the engagement, known in the records of
the war as the battle of Kinston. Shortly after, while making a
detour to the right with the Ninth New Jersey and Seventeenth
Massachusetts, Heckman discovered two rebel regiments moving in
the direction of the woods on his left, and almost simultaneously
with his formation to meet this demonstration, two other regiments
were found lying under cover of a slightly-elevated stretch of
ground, immediately on the right of the Ninth. At this moment,
fortunately, he was reinforced by the Ninety-ninth Pennsylvania,
Fifty-second New York, Colonel Gray, and the Eighty-ninth New
York, Lieutenant-Colonel Weldon, with a section of Wiard guns.
These were put in battery on the extreme left of the line of battle,
supported by the Ninety-ninth Pennsylvania, facing to the right,
while the Fifty-second and Eighty-ninth New York were ordered




222           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
to charge the regiments under the hill, with instructions, if successful, to prevent their reaching their works. In this Colonel
Gray was eminently successful, cutting off one rebel regiment from
the main body. Meanwhile, Heckman pressed forward over the
open ground, under cover of a belt of woods, with the Ninth New
Jersey and Seventeenth Massachusetts, forcing the two regiments
in his front to the left and rear of their batteries, and Colonel
Gray at the same moment emerging from the woods on the left of
the road, both commands started on a run for the bridge-hoping
thus to prevent the retreat of the enemy. But the rebels, discovering the movement, at once abandoned their works, and hurried
towards the same point. Having the inside line, the greater part
of their force succeeded in crossing the bridge, but finding the pursuers close upon their heels, the rear-guard fired the structure,
which in a moment was wrapped in flames-having been previously sprinkled with spirits of turpentine.  A  considerable
number of the fugitives who had fallen upon the bridge, borne
down by the press and rush of the retreat, met a horrible death,
being roasted alive in the flames which their comrades had kindled.
At the same time, some four hundred of the enemy who found it
impossible to cross, were taken prisoners by our advance, while
seeking the shelter of their works. Heckman and Gray, with the
men of the Ninth New Jersey and Fifty-second New York, at
once set to work to extinguish the flames, now rapidly destroying
the bridge, and this they succeeded in doing, although greatly
annoyed by sharpshooters, when the Color Company of the Ninth,
Captain William B. Curlis, dashed across and into the work at the
end of the bridge-capturing some fifty rebels who had remained
crouching behind the fortification, fearing to make an attempt to
escape, owing to the close proximity of the Union troops, who
commanded the position.  Without delay, Colonel Heckman
pushed forward into the town, followed by the Ninth, which was
the first regiment to enter the place. During the pursuit, Heckman succeeded in wresting from;the hands of the bearer a stand
of Texan colors, which were afterwards sent to the Governor of
New Jersey and by him deposited among other trophies obtained




THE NINTH REGIMENT.                    22M
by our troops. This exploit of the dashing Colonel was loudly
cheered by the Ninth, in whose presence it was performed.  The
total fruits of this victory were one stand of colors, three brass
guns and several hundred prisoners.13
On the morning of the 15th, having bivouacked on the field,
the army re-commenced its march. Re-crossing the bridge, which
was then immediately burned, to prevent pursuit, the force pressed
along a road which skirted the southern banks of the Neuse, towards Whitehall, a town lying directly west upon the river, some
twenty miles from Kinston. Reaching a point some three miles
distant from Whitehall, the troops halted for the night. Early on
the morning of the 16th, a detachment of cavalry having been,
meanwhile, dispatched to Mount Olive, a station on the Wilmington
and Weldon Railroad, fourteen miles below Goldsborough, where
the railroad track was destroyed for about a mile, as was the bridge
at Goshen Swamp, four miles distant-the infantry, with the Ninth
again in the advance, pushed on to Whitehall, finding on arriving
that the bridge over the Neuse had been destroyed, and that the
enemy, in considerable force, had taken position on the opposite
side, with ten guns in battery, protected by long lines of rifle pits.
Whitehall, which is only a hamlet, is situated on a perfectly level
plain, extending from the river westward a distance of half a mile,
where it becomes slightly rolling. It was in this open space that
Colonel Heckman deployed the Ninth, the men advancing under
a withering fire from the enemy, concealed on the other side of the
river.  Gaining the bank, however, and selecting such cover as
the nature of the ground afforded, they opened vigorously on the
enemy, who had now become visible, although still protected by
the heavy trees. Finding the Ninth warmly engaged, and unable
to silence the entire rebel force, Heckman ordered forward the
Seventeenth, Twenty-third and Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Regiments, who at once opened briskly-several pieces of artillery, at
the same time, getting into position well to the right of the forces
engaged, and pouring an enfilading fire into the rebel ranks. Guns
13 During the following night, six additional guns were captured at a rebel work,
some distance down the river.




224           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
were also placed on a slight elevation under the bluffs, and the
engagement soon became general, the rebels, however, speedily
becoming dispirited and slackening their fire, our artillery causing
great havoc in their ranks. Finally, after a combat of some two
hours, the rebels retired, and, deeming his object accomplished,
General Foster ordered the column to resume its march towards
Goldsborough.  Bivouacking that night eight miles from the place
of destination, the little army, on the morning of the 17th, again
moved forward to the completion of its work. Goldsborough, the
objective of this movement, lies at the junction of the Wilmington
and Weldon and the Atlantic and North Carolina Railways, and the
principal object of the expedition was to destroy the former of
these roads, which was the main line of Northern communication
for the rebels. To make this interruption complete it was necessary to destroy a bridge, an eighth of a mile long, which here
spanned the river, and which could not be re-constructed without
much labor and great expense. The enemy, of course, fully appreciated the importance of this bridge, and was prepared to make
a vigorous stand for its defense. By feints, however, at other
points, he somewhat distracted attention, compelling the rebels to
detach bodies of troops from the main force to resist his attacks at
the menaced points, and thus rendering his success in the main
purpose of the expedition more probable and certain. The main
force advancing, as we have stated, came up with the enemy posted
on the edge of the woods lining the railroad. The Ninth New
Jersey at once moved to the right and along the country road
under cover of the timber until the railroad track was reached,
when, leaving the Seventeenth Massachusetts to hold this point
until the arrival of Wessel's Brigade, Heckman "changed direction
to the right," and being presently joined by the Seventeenth
Massachusetts, moved straight up the track towards the bridge.
The enemy had now divined the purpose of the advancing column,
and at once concentrated heavily at the threatened point, opening
a rapid fire, both musketry and artillery.  General Foster having
meanwhile come up, ordered all his available guns to open on the
enemy, and, under cover of their fire, Heckman still steadily




THE NINTH REGIMENT.                    225
advanced, engaging and repulsing  two rebel regiments which
presumed to dispute his progress. After some two hours of continuous fighting, the command reached the bridge, which was still
covered by the enemy's guns, and volunteers were at once called
for to advance and fire the structure. Nearly every member of the
Ninth at once volunteered, begging the privilege of engaging in
the perilous service, but as three or four could perform the work
as well as a hundred, Corporal James W. Green and Private Elias
C. Winans, of Company K, were selected from  the many offering
their services, and being supplied with fuses, set out on the expedition.  Running rapidly forward, under cover of the railroad
embankment, exposed all the way to a perfect storm of bullets
from the enemy's sharpshooters, they soon reached the bridge.
There, covering themselves as much as possible, they endeavored
to kindle the fires, but these not igniting, they attempted to fire
the structure with matches.  These, too, failed. Meanwhile, the
leaden hail fell around them, and the situation every moment
grew more perilous. But the gallant fellows, determined on success,
did not flinch.  At length, Winans, watching an opportunity, crept
down the bank into the edge of the timber, and hastily gathering
a quantity of leaves and lightwood, started to return, confident
now of success. But just at this moment, being discovered by a
party of rebels under the bridge, a sharp fire was opened upon
him.  One bullet passed through his canteen and cup, another
through his coat, and a third grazed his face, but steadily, unflinchingly, he crept forward, until at last reaching his companion, like
himself so far unharmed, the match was struck, the leaves were
ignited, and the bridge was fired! Just at this moment, a terrific
storm of bullets  swept along the structure, and, looking to
the rear to discover the cause of the outburst, Green and Winans
saw Lieutenant Graham, Aid to Colonel Heckman, and Private
William Lemons, of Company E, entering the wooden structure on
the run, each bearing a fresh supply of fuses. By a desperate effort,
loosening a plank, these gallant soldiers fired the fuses, and thrusting them into the aperture, awaited the result. A minute after,
a column of smoke rose over the bridge, then tongues of flame
29




226            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
shot into the air, and the work was accomplished.  Then, hurrying
from their shelter, the heroes of the day, under cover of the dense
cloud of smoke, started for their comrades, whom  they safely
reached, cheer upon cheer welcoming them, as with flushed faces
they came once more to their places in the ranks.  During these
operations, several members of the Seventeenth Massachusetts had
attempted to reach the bridge, but had failed, and the glory of
this grand achievement belongs exclusively to the Ninth. The
regiments were now deployed along the railroad, and the track torn
up for a distance of several miles, after which the Ninth and
Seventeenth were withdrawn, both having suffered severely, being
the only troops engaged.14
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the object of the expedition
having been accomplished, the army commenced its return. The
Ninth had reached a distance of perhaps three miles, when it was
suddenly halted-heavy firing being heard in the rear-and was
soon after dispatched to the relief of the rear-guard, who had been
suddenly assailed by the enemy.  Fatigued as they were, the
gallant Jerseymen promptly moved to the rescue, arriving on the
field just in time to witness the retreat of two rebel brigades, which
had been repulsed with heavy loss by Belger's and Morrison's
Batteries.  No further attack  being apprehended, the column
resumed its march towards Newberne, where it arrived on the evening of the 20th, having accomplished, on the last day, a distance of
thirty-two miles in eleven hours, and having, during ten days,
marched one hundred and fifty miles and fought three engagements,
with a total loss of about one hundred and fifty men in killed and
wounded.
On the 22d of December, Colonel Heckman received his commission as Brigadier-General, bearing date of October 29, 1862, the
announcement of his promotion for " signal ability and meritorious
services," occasioning the liveliest enthusiasm among the men of
the Ninth.  General Heckman was at once assigned to the corn14 General Foster, in his official report of this engagement, says: " Colonel Heckman, of the Ninth New Jersey, was, with his admirable regiment, always in advance,
and displayed the greatest courage and efficiency."




THE NINTH  REGIMENT.                            227
mand  of the First Brigade, Second Division, Eighteenth Army
Corps, consisting of the Ninth New Jersey, Third, Eighth and
Twenty-third Massachusetts Regiments. On the same day Doctor
A. W. Woodhull was made Brigade-Surgeon, reporting for duty
with  the gallant Heckman.  On the 24th, a beautiful stand  of
colors, costing seven hundred dollars, the gift of the New  Jersey
Legislature, was presented to the Ninth, the following resolutions,
passed by the Legislature, accompanying the gift:
"Resolved, That the Ninth Regiment of New Jersey Volunteers, by their patient
endurance under privation and fatigue, and by their courage at the ever-to-be-remembered battles of Roanoke and Newberne, (a courage evinced by the havoc made in their
own unwavering columns, better than by the reports of partial journals,) have sustained
the high reputation which, since the days of the Revolution, has belonged to the soldiers of New Jersey, and as evidence of our appreciation of that acme of every manly
virtue,' patriotic devotion to country,' the Governor of the State is requested to have
prepared and forwarded to said regiment a standard on which shall be inscribed these
words:' Presented by New Jersey to her Ninth Regiment, in remembrance of Roanoke
and Newberne.'
"Resolved, That Colonel Charles A. Heckman, who so gallantly led his well-ordered
men to the conflict, is requested, at the proper time, to report to the Clerk of the
House of Assembly, the names of those who fell, killed or mortally wounded, on either
of the said battle-fields; and that the Clerk of the House is, by virtue of this resolution,
ordered to enter their names, with the place where they fell, on the minutes of the
Assembly of New Jersey, as men who have fallen in defence of the best government of
the world.
"Resolved, That New Jersey looks with pride upon all her soldiers in the field, without exception or distinction, and is prepared to honor them; and while extending
congratulations that the occasion has never yet occurred when they have been put to
flight by an enemy, entertains entire confidence that such occasion will never be recognized by them.
" Resolved, That New Jersey highly appreciates the disinterested fidelity of BrigadierGeneral Philip Kearney, in declining proffered promotion, rather than separate himself
from the command of Jerseymen to him entrusted.
"Resolved, That with the families, relatives and friends of those members of the
Ninth Regiment, who, on the 14th of March, met death in that form most courted by
the true soldier, on the battle-field, with their faces to the foe, we most deeply sympathize and sincerely condole.
" Resolved, That copies of these resolutions be forwarded to the Generals and Colonels
commanding the New Jersey troops.
The year 1863 opened with the Ninth in camp, and with Lieutenant-Colonel Zabriskie promoted to the Colonelcy of the command.
On the 7th of January, the brigade to which it was attached-known
from that date as " The Star Brigade," was reviewed by General H.
M. Naglee, commanding the Second Division, and three days subsequently left its camp for Morehead City, where the following
explanatory order was read to the troops:




228             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
"HEADQUARTERS FIRST BRIGADE, SECOND DIVISION, )
EIGHTEENTH ARMY CORPS, MOREHEAD CITY, a
NORTH CAROLINA, January 14, 1863.
"General Order, _No. 4.
"As rapidly as any of the following vessels are supplied with coal, water and ten
days' provisions, you will commence embarking your troops designated to go with
them, leaving cooks and cooking utensils to supply them temporarily: steamer City of
Bath, Eighty-first New York, four hundred men; steamer Expounder, Eighty-first New
York, one hundred and ninety-one men; ship Morton, Twenty-third Massachusetts,
seven hundred and forty-five men; steamer Curlew, Ninth New Jersey, three hundred
and seventy-two men; steamer Key West, Ninth New Jersey, two hundred and seventyone men; steamer United States, Ninety-Eighth New York, four hundred and seventyfour men. Headquarters of the brigade will be established on the steamer United
States.   X   *   *   Sealed instructions will be furnished each vessel. * * *
"By command of      Brigadier-General C. A. HECrMAN, Commanding Brigade.
"WILLIAM H. ABEL, Capt. and A. A. G.
On the 20th, the vessels having received the necessary supplies
the troops were embarked, but the fleet did not sail until the afternoon of the 29th, when it slowly steamed out of Beaufort harborsome one hundred vessels in all. The sea being unusually rough,
several of the steamers struck the shoals, the Curlew at one time
being in considerable danger, but succeeding at last in getting off
with the loss of a portion of her keel.  Early on the morning of the
31st, the fleet entered Port Royal Harbor, South Carolina, sailing
past gilton Head, and anchoring off St. Helena Island, where, on the
9th of February, Heckman's Brigade disembarked, being followed,
on the following day, by Foster's entire force, consisting of two
divisions.  During its stay at this point, the corps  was almost
continuously  under drill, General Hunter, who commanded the
department, appearing determined to tax  the endurance of the
troops to the utmost. Frequently, after undergoing the severest
drill, the regiments were ordered out for review, for no other
purpose, apparently, than the gratification of the whims of the
Commanding General.  On the 5th of March, General Naglee was
relieved of the command of the Second Divison, to which he said
farewell in a stirring order, urging every man to do his duty in the
future as in the past.   By order of General Hunter, General
Heckmnan then assumed command of the division, and on the 4th
of April, embarked his troops on transports, with instructions to
proceed to the Edisto River, and there await further orders; the
troops not to disembark, unless it should be necessary to give sup



THE NINTH REGIMENT.                   229
port to General Stevenson, then occupying Seabrook Island-in
which case, sufficient force should be put on shore to enable him to
hold his position. At this time operations against Charleston were
going vigorously forward; many of the approaches to the city had
already been occupied, and it was now proposed to make a combined land and naval attack, a fleet of iron-clads having been
collected in the mouth of the North Edisto River, whence they
were to move up to the harbor and open upon the outlying forts of
the enemy.  This movement was made on the 6th of April.
Meanwhile, General Heckrman, in obedience to orders, had reached
Edisto River, and on the 7th, learning that the rebels were preparing fire-ships a short distance from his anchorage, ordered Captains
Hufty and Townley to land their companies and make a careful
reconnoissance, which was promptly done, but without discovering
any signs of the enemy. The same day the bombardment of
Charleston by the iron-clads had been opened with great vigor,
but had failed to produce any satisfactory results, and this rendering co-operation by the land forces useless, Heckman's command
was not engaged, greatly to the disappointment of both officers and
men. Instead of an order to move up to Charleston, the General
received, on the 10th, an order to proceed immediately, with his
division, to Port Royal harbor, disembarking one brigade under his
own command at Hilton Head, (of which port he was to assume
command,) and sending the other at once to Beaufort, there to
report to General Foster. This order, though unwelcome, was at
once obeyed, the Second Brigade being sent to Beaufort and the
First disembarked at Hilton Head, whither General Hunter returned
on the 12th. On the same day, the steamship Augusta Dinsmore,
arrived from Morehead City, brought news that General Foster was
besieged at Little Washington, North Carolina. This intelligence
caused the greatest commotion among the men of the Ninth, as
well as throughout other commands, and Major Giles, of the Third
New York Artillery, with Captain Hutchins, A. Q. M., who were
familiar with the facts as to General Foster's dangerous position,
having just arrived on the steamer, at once prepared a statement
of the condition of affairs, to be laid before General Hunter-soli



230               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
citing the return of the Eighteenth Corps to North Carolina. Subsequently, General Heckman, with the officers named, waited upon
the Commanding General at Beaufort, and presenting the statement,
awaited a reply, but none was received, General Hunter entering
into conversation on other matters, and obliging the officers to leave
without any information  as to  his intentions.'s  The  next day,
however, General Heckman received the following order:
"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH 
HILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA,
April 12, 1863.
"Special Order, 3Vo. 160.
"It having been officially represented to the Major-General Commanding, by Brigadier-General Heckman, Major S. Giles and Captain W. V. Hutchins, that Major-General
Foster, Commanding Department of North Carolina, is besieged and in danger of being
captured by the enemy at Little Washington, North Carolina, Brigadier-General Heckman, United States Volunteers, is hereby ordered to proceed with his brigade, consisting of the following regiments: Ninth New Jersey, Twenty-third Massachusetts,
Eighty-first and Ninety-eighth New York, to Newberne, North Carolina, where he will
report to the General in command for service in relieving Major-General Foster. This
duty executed, or it being found that Major-General Foster has been already relieved,
Brigadier-General Heckman will forthwith return with his command to this Department.                                      "By command of
"Major-General HUNTER."
As may be imagined, General Heckman hastened with all possible despatch to obey this order, but from unavoidable causes, some
of the vessels having to be coaled and watered, there was a delay
of an hour or two in getting the brigade embarked and on its way.
During this time the wharf was crowded with officers and men of
the Eighteenth Corps, praying for permission to return to their old
campaign-grounds, and the Department Headquarters was besieged
with applicants craving the same favor. Presently, while awaiting
15 Captain J. M. Drake furnishes the following account of this interview:
" The statement being presented, General Hunter read it, winked several times, and
then quietly folding the document, placed it in his pocket. An answer was, of course,
expected, or that further information would be asked for. Whether General Hunter
wished to be waggish or not, does not appear; but he certainly exhibited a quaint way
of disposing of a matter of so much importance as that which had just been laid before
him.'Ah! General Heckman,' said he,'you are from New Jersey, I believe?''No, General,' answered Heckman,'I was born in Pennsylvania, in the town ot
Easton, but I have lived in New Jersey for the last fourteen years.''In what part,
pray?''In the town of Phillipsburg.''What town did you say?''Phillipsburg.''Phillipsburg! where is that beautiful place?''Phillipsburg, sir, is forty miles from
Trenton, on the line of the Belvidere, Delaware and Central Railroads, and directly
opposite Easton.''Ah! indeed.' (A solemn pause of three minutes here ensued,
during which period not a word was spoken on either side. Hunter, however, seemed
to be keeping up a continual thinking.) At last the silence was broken by General




THE NINTH REGIMENT.                           231
the arrival of one of the vessels by which his command was to be
transported, General Heckman received the following note from
General Hunter, who seemed anxious to deepen as much as possible the unfavorable impression he had already made on the fighting
men of the Ninth:
"GENERAL: I am instructed by the Major-General Commanding to call your attention to the delays in getting off your command-delays the less excusable in view of
the representations of urgent haste made yesterday afternoon, on which it was decided
to send your brigade to General Foster's relief. Should these delays be continued,
in view of the imminent probability of active operations in another quarter, it will be
necessary to countermand the orders already given to your brigade.
"Yours respectfully,
C. G. HALPINE, A. A. G.16
This brusque note produced an instantaneous effect throughout
the brigade, though it did not quicken by one jot the desire of the
men to go to the reliefoftheir North Carolina comrades.  Their longing in that direction was already intense; the mere thought that
General Foster, under whose eye they had so often fought, and for
whom all alike entertained feelings of the liveliest esteem, was in
danger, induced in every regiment and company a painful, eager
anxiety to move to his rescue.  At last all were embarked, and the
vessels sailed direct for Morehead City, where they arrived on the
16th. Thence the command proceeded by rail to Newberne, reaching that city just as the steamer Escort, with Major-General Foster
on board, touched the wharf-having run the gauntlet of the rebel
batteries which the rebel General Hill had planted on both sides of
the river." The rejoicing among the troops at the escape of their
favorite General, and among the loyal citizens at the timely arrival
of Heckman's Brigade, was, as may be conceived, of the heartiest
character; but for the " Star Brigade " there was work still to be
done.  During the night, General Heckman gave himself up to preHunter, who, good naturedly, asked if those present would not take a little whiskey.'Thank you,' said General Heckman,'we have just taken a little sherry wine. (Another ominous pause, which was broken by the fortunate intervention of the dinner
bell. Declining an invitation to dine, General Heckman and his party left, to await the
decision of the Commanding-General."
16 To say the least, this curt note was uncalled for, but it was characteristic of General
Hunter. The statement as to the imminency of operations in that department or elsewhere was simply untrue, the demonstration against Charleston having already been
abandoned, and no other movement being thought of.
17 In passing the long line of batteries, the steamer had been subjected to a terrific




232              NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
parations for the relief of Little Washington, which was still surrounded by a large rebel force, and shortly after noon on the 17th,
the Ninth, crossing the Neuse, marched towards the imperilled post,
closely followed by the other regiments. The road was very heavy,
the men at times marching in water up to their knees. At two
o'clock, p. m., on the 18th, the column reached Blount's Mills,
where Heckman made a reconnoissance, but finding no enemy, rode
into the abandoned works of the enemy, followed by the Ninth.
These earthworks were situated on a promontory, and commanded
every approach to Little Washington with the exception of that
from the southeast. The evacuation of this very important position
satisfied Heckman that the rebel Hill had raised the siege, which
proved to be the case. Heckman then dispatched two squadrons
of cavalry, with a section of howitzers, to ascertain Hill's line of
retreat-General Naglee and staff volunteering to accompany the
expedition; and at a late hour the same night, the following report
was received, showing the success of the pursuit:' JUNCTION GREENVILLE AND WASHINGTON ROADS, 
Half-past eight o'clock, p. m.
"DEAR GENERAL: We came upon Hill's rear-guard at this point, charged them,
killing one officer and two men, wounding several, and capturing one guidon, one
officer and five privates, whom I send to you under guard. I will have the squadron
remain here until you arrive with the infantry. I never saw cavalrymen equal to the
squadron you sent with me.
" Respectfully,
"H. M. NAGLEE, General."
On the 14th, Major William B. Curlis, with three companies of
the Ninth, found the regiment, having marched from Newberne, a
distance of some forty miles, in a day and a night,'8 and the
fire, and so completely was she riddled that on reaching Newberne her side, and hull
resembled a honey-comb more nearly than "walls of oak." Before starting on the
perilous trip, General Foster had taken the precaution to have the machinery well
protected by cotton bales. The Escort was a fast sailer, and besides her machinery had
been well oiled and an abundant supply of pine-knots had been provided, which aided
greatly in keeping up a full head of steam, and so enabled her to escape the rebels,
who felt confident of her capture. More than seventy Whitworth bolts (so generously
furnished the rebels by our English "friends,") poured through the hull of the
vessel during the trip-one going through a stateroom which General Foster had
occupied only a moment before.
is Those companies had been left in the hasty embarkation at Helena Island. The
march made by them to overtake their comrades is one of the most extraordinary of
the war.




THE NINTH REGIMENT.                    238
advance being resumed, Heckman entered Washington at the head
of his column at three o'clock in the afternoon, receiving a hearty
welcome both from citizens and soldiers, who acknowledged him
as their deliverer. It was, no doubt, an apprehension of attack from
this intrepid command which had induced Hill to withdraw as he
did, abandoning all the works he had been at so much pains to
construct atRodman's and Kee's Points and elsewhere. The Ninth
returned to Newberne by steamer the following day, and, on the
25th, was sent to its old camp at Carolina City, (consisting of two
or three small houses,) where it remained for several weeks, recuperating fiom the fatigues of its arduous campaigns.
On the 18th of May, Colonel Zabriskie assumed command of the
District of Beaufort, during the temporary absence of General
Heckman who commanded the department, and about the same
time (25th) Surgeon Woodhull was ordered to superintend the
erection of the hospital at Morehead City, afterwards known as the
Mansfield General Hospital.'"  Subsequently, General Heckman
was placed in command of the forces and defences of Newberne,
which position he held for some time.  On the 3d of July, the
Third New York Cavalry, and a portion of the First North Carolina
Cavalry, having started from Newberne for the purpose of destroying the railroad at Keenansville, some forty-five miles distant,
Heckman, with the Ninth New Jersey, Seventeenth, Twenty-third
and Twenty-seventh Massachusetts, and  Eighty-first and One
Hundred and Fifty-eighth New York, and Belger's and Angel's
Batteries marched as a support, proceeding by way of Pollocksville
and Trenton to Free Bridge, on the river Trent, where, on the
6th, the rebels were encountered in some force, and after a sharp
fight, compelled to retreat-leaving us in possession of the road
and bridge, and so enabling the cavalry to cross and rejoin the
infantry on their return from the point against which they were
operating. Only three men of the Ninth were wounded in this
affair.  The cavalry force was eminently successful, destroying
several miles of railroad, together with government and commissary
19 Doctor Woodhull was complimented in a General Order for the able and faitbful
manner in which lie performed his manifold duties.
30




234          ENEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
stores, and a factory for making sabers and other arms. About three
hundred fine horses were also captured, while a large number of negroes flocked into our lines, eager to be of service. The expedition
returning, reached Newberne on the evening of the 7th. On the
14th, the Ninth, with one or two regiments, proceeded to the White
Oak River, for the purpose of making a reconnissance, ascertaining
by soundings, &c., the best crossings within five miles of its mouth
which being done, the force returned, for once having no engagement with the enemy.  On the 17th, General Foster having been ordered to the command of the Department of North Carolina and Virginia, with headquarters at Fortress Monroe, General Heckman assumed command of the District of North Carolina, and eight days
after, with a large force, embarked and sailed up the Chowan River
for Winton, reaching that place about three o'clock on the afternoon
of the 26th. Here Lieutenant Robert Swain, commanding Company
I, immediately landed his men, and advanced a short distance from
the river, being soon followed by the entire regiment, which pushed
forward for about a mile, when, it being ascertained that the wrong
road had been taken, a countermarch was ordered. The Seventeenth Massachusetts now took the advance, but without deploying
skirmishers, supposing the Ninth to be still leading the column.
It was not a little surprised, therefore, when, as it moved foward,
it was suddenly assailed by a shower of bullets from both sides of
the road; along which the enemy lay concealed behind earthworks.
Speedily recovering, however, from  their momentary confusion,
the men of the Seventeenth vigorously returned the enemy's
salute, and in a short time, with the assistance of the Ninth, which
had now come up, compelled him to evacuate a strong position. A
mile beyond, however, the fugitives re-formed behind fresh earthworks, on the right bank of Pattacassey Creek, and prepared again
to deliver battle. At this point there was a bridge which Heckman had been ordered to carry and hold, and he lost no time in
attempting the task, advancing the Ninth for the purpose. Moving
slowly forward until the bridge was reached, the dauntless Jerseymen, in the face of a galling fire, charged swiftly over the structure right into the works of the enemy, capturing thirty prisoners,




THE NINTH REGIMENT.                        235
and putting the remainder of the rebels to flight, with a loss of
only a few men wounded-Lieutenant J. Madison Drake being hit
in the shoulder, and two or three others otherwise injured.  The
objective point having thus been reached, Hieckman made a disposition of his forces, and awaited the arrival of General Foster
with a force of cavalry from Fortress Monroe, by waly of Suffolk.'0
This force, consisting of the First New  York  Mounted Rifles,
Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavalry and Stewart's (Regular) Battery,
arrived on the 27th, crossing the Chowan River at Winton, when
it was ascertained that all the cavalry were to operate against
Weldon, destroying the important railroad communications at that
point, while the infantry were to hold Hill's bridge, taken from the
enemy the day previous.  Here, therefore, Heckman's command
remained until the 30th, when, the cavalry returning, having been
unable to turn the rebel position at Jackson, situate some ten miles
east of, and covering, Weldon, the entire force proceeded to Winton,
and late at night embarked for Newberne.
On the 13th of August, Major-General Peck took command of the
District of North Carolina, relieving General Heckman, and on the
26th, many members of the Ninth being sick with chills and fever,
the regiment was sent to Carolina City, where it remained unemployed for a month and a half.  At this time, nearly three hundred
men were daily reported sick and unfit for duty.  On the 18th of
October, the regiment again broke camp and proceeded to Newport
News, Virginia, the remainder of Heckman's command, the Twentythird, Twenty-fifth and Twenty-seventh Massachusetts, Eightyfirst and Fifty-eighth New  York, Third  New York Cavalry, and
Belger's and Riggs' batteries, reaching.the same place on the 20th,
and with the Ninth going into camp near the river.  Here the regiment remained during the remainder of the.year.
20 "While before Winton, and in bivouac, Private Charles Muller, Company A,
of the Ninth Regiment, from Newark, went into the woods for pleasure, carrying a
small wooden stick in his hand, when he came up with three rebels standing under a
tree, their loaded guns, with equipments, standing by their side at the tree; to secure
the arms and to tell the men that they were his prisoners, was the work of a moment,
and carrying the arms himself, with the men walking before him, Charles returned to
camp, still with the wooden stick in his hand. His march past the artillery and
cavalry guards, and his arrival in the camp of the Ninth, caused much amusement
among the men." —Diary of Iiermnann E'verts.




236              NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
On the 16th of January, 1864, General Heckman being ordered
to the command of the District of Suffolk, issued the following
farewell order, which was read to the Ninth at dress-parade:
"HEADQUARTERS, NEWPORT NEWS, )
January 12, 1864. 
" Gencral Order, iVo. 2.
"Having been relieved from the command of the brigade, by Special Order, No 12,
from Headquarters Department of Virginia and North Carolina, I, therefore, bid farewell to the officers and men composing the command. The intercourse, both official
and personal, between myself and those serving in the command, has been highly
satisfactory, and will always be remembered with pleasure. To those troops which
formed a part of my old command I bid an affectionate farewell. From my first
association with them at Trenton, through the perils and affliction at Hatteras, the
gallant charges at Roanoke and Newberne, the noble daring and brilliant deeds at
White Oak, Southwest Creek, Kinston, Whitehall and Goldsborough, my feeling
towards them has been one of affection and pride.
"Called to another command, I will continue to watch over you with unabated
interest, feeling confident that your future history will be equally brilliant as the
past.
"By order of                                         "C. A. IECKMAN.
"W. H. ArEL, Captain and A. A. G."
The  term  for which  the Ninth had volunteered having now
nearly expired, Colonel Zabriskie, on the 21st, addressed the regiment on the subject of re-enlistment, a majority having already
expressed a wish to do so if the Colonel would agree to remain in
command.  In his remarks, Colonel Zabriskie stated that he would
cheerfully continue with the command which had already achieved
so enviable a distinction, and two-thirds of the entire number at
once re-enlisted for " three years or the war." The number required
to entitle the whole regiment to a veteran furlough, in accordance
with the regulations announced by the War Department, being
thus secured, the regiment, on the 31st, embarked, and on the
2d of February sailed for the North, reaching Jersey City the following day. On the 4th, upon landing, the command was formally
received by the city authorities, after which, having paraded the
principal streets, it was entertained at Taylor's Hotel, and late in
the afternoon, proceeded to Trenton, where its arms were stored,
and the men  scattered to the homes, where fond ones awaited
their coming.
During the absence of the Ninth, the portion who did not re-enlist
were ordered on a reconnoisance to Deep Creek, where, the enemy
appearing in strong numbers, the little band, under command of




THE NINTH REGIMENT.                  237
Lieutenant Thomas Burnett, was compelled to retreat, leaving the
bodies of Albert Nutt and Joel Hulse, of Company D, in the hands
of the rebels, who mutilated them in a horrible manner. General
Heckman, who was at Getty's Station, on learning of the affair,
hastened to the relief of the detachment with five hundred men,
and, enraged at the wanton cruelty of the enemy, did not halt until
the menacing force was driven into North Carolina. During the
pursuit, the rebels, who were under command of General Ransom,
and numbered four regiments, were severely punished for their
barbarism.
On the 15th of March, the gallant Ninth, strengthened by a
number of recruits, once more set its face towards the field. Reaching Portsmouth, Virginia, on the 17th, it proceeded to Getty's
Station, where it re-united with Heckman's command, which consisted of the Eighty-first, Ninety-sixth, Ninety-eighth and One
Hundred and Thirty-fourth New York, First Brigade; Ninth New
Jersey, Twenty-third, Twenty-fifth and Twenty-seventh Massachusetts, Second Brigade; Fourth Rhode Island, One Hundred and
Eighteenth New York, Eighth Connecticut, Tenth and Thirteenth
New Hampshire, Third Brigade; with nine batteries and thirty-two
pieces of artillery, mounted on the line of fortifications. On the
14th of April, "Heckman's old Brigade" embarked at Portsmouth
and sailed up the Chuckatuck River, landing on the following day
at Cherry Grove, the enemy being met near that point and engaged
by several companies of the Ninth, with a loss of a number of men
wounded. The rebels retiring, the command advanced to Smithfield, a point some miles northward of the Norfolk and Petersburg
Railroad; but returned the next day to its camp, where, on the
26th, it was transferred to Yorktown. From this point the division
advanced towards Williamsburg, a large number of transports,
crowded with troops, meanwhile, sailing up the York River.
Heckman's movement being designed only as a feint, he suddenly
countermarched to Yorktown, embarked his division, and during
the night sailed down the river, with the Eighteenth and Tenth
Corps, to Fortress Monroe. On the morning of May 5th, the fleet
again moved, the iron-clads in advance, and at six o'clock in the




238           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
evening, the Ninth disembarked at Bermuda Hundred, on the south
side of the James River-being among the first to land. Bivouacking about two miles from the river, the division, at six o'clock on
the morning of the 6th, moved forward, the Ninth, as usual, having
the post of honor, Company D, Lieutenant J. Madison Drake, being
deployed as skirmishers. At this time the army of the Potomac
was just emerging from the Wilderness, after its terrible encounter
with Lee, and the movement of Butler's army towards Petersburg
was part of the grand plan by which General Grant hoped to reduce
the rebel capital and put an end to the rebellion. There was a
possibility of desperate fighting, needing the sturdiest courage and
most robust endurance, and it was only natural, this being true,
that the veterans of the Ninth should have the post of honor and
of danger. Moving steadily forward, the regiment at noon came
within sight of Petersburg, halting at a point north of the Appomattox River, three miles from the Petersburg and Richmond
Railroad. From this point, General Butler, two hours later, ordered
Heckman to advance towards Petersburg, and ascertain, if possible,
the position and strength of the rebel army, but not to bring on a
general engagement. The "Star Brigade," proud to head the
column, obeyed this order with the utmost alacrity, advancing to
Port Walthall Junction, where, strongly posted, it found Beauregard's South Carolina Army, just arrived  from  Charleston.
Beauregard, seeing the small force sent against him, at once opened
the engagement, our men being obliged to fight in an open field,
while the enemy had the advantages of good protection and a bright
sun at their backs. The contest, necessarily, under these circumstances, was a very unequal one, but our troops stoutly held their
ground, continuing the engagement for some two hours, when, in
obedience to orders, they retired.  Tne Ninth in this engagement
lost four killed and thirty wounded. General Heckman had his
horse killed under him, the faithful animal being pierced by no less
than thirteen bullets. On the morning of the 7th, the brigade again
moved to the scene of hostilities, speedily finding the enemy and
bringing on an engagement, during which General Weitzel moved
around to the right, with a view of destroying the railroad between




THE NINTH REGIMENT.                   239
Petersburg and Richmond. For some time the fighting was less
severe than on the preceding day, but about noon, the enemy, evidently determined to drive Heckman from his position, advanced
in strong numbers, rendering his situation extremely critical. But
just at this moment, as the combatants were coming to close quarters, the enemy were startled by a heavy fire in their rear. Weitzel.
having torn up the railroad for a distance of seven miles, had fortunately discovered the designs of the rebels, and at once attacked
them with great ardor, inflicting considerable loss, and causing
Beauregard to abandon altogether his purpose of assailing Heckman,
and to act for the remainder of the day purely on the defensive.
At sunset, Heckman and Weitzel, having accomplished their object,
returned to their camp, the Ninth having lost one man killed and
ten wounded.
The following day being Sunday, the regiment remained in camp,
but on the morning of the 9th, both corps of Butler's command
moved southward to Swift Creek, three miles from PetersburgHeckman's'Brigade again having the advance.  The enemy, though
strongly posted at the creek, were at once attacked and driven some
two or three miles with heavy loss, our troops tearing up the track
of the Petersburg and Richmond Railroad as they advanced.
Coming, however, within two miles of Petersburg, on the turnpike,
into which the column debouched from the track of the railroad,
the enemy was encountered in strong force, and fighting was
immediately resumed, continuing with great violence until darkness
put an end to the combat. Both armies held during the night the
ground occupied during the day; the rebels seeking in vain, by a
swift dash upon our pickets, at midnight, to break our lines.
During the day, some two hundred prisoners were taken from the
enemy. The loss of the Ninth was one man killed and nine
wounded. On the following day, Heckman's Brigade was not
engaged, but on the 12th, the whole army again advanced, encountering the enemy on the Richmond and Petersburg turnpike.
After some skirmishing, Weitzel's Division established itself on the
turnpike, driving the enemy on the run in the direction of Fort
Darling. Night closing active operations, both armies rested on




240           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
their arms until the 13th, when skirmishing was resumed at day
light, and continued with little intermission during the entire day,
the enemy being gradually driven at all points of the line. It being
rumored that the rebels were evacuating Fort Darling, (Drury's
Bluff,) General Heckman dispatched Captain Samuel Hufty with
one hundred men of the Ninth to reconnoiter the enemy's position,
which duty was satisfactorily performed, the party returning before
daylight with a report that the enemy still occupied the fort, with
their lines established as during the previous day.  On the
morning of the 14th, the artillery opened vigorously upon the
enemy. Heckman's Brigade soon after advancing, with Companies
D and G, of the Ninth, commanded by Lieutenants Drake and
Peters, deployed as skirmishers, and compelling the enemy to fall
back to their fortifications. Lieutenant Drake, upon discovering
the works of the enemy, halted his command to await the arrival
of General Heckman, who soon after coming up, the two stealthily
crept some distance to a point under the brow of a hill, where, as
they were examining the rebel position, they were discovered and
fired upon, but fortunately without injury. Heckman, now understanding the situation, at once ordered Drake to drive the enemy
behind his works, which was speedily done without loss to his command. At noon, Companies D and E were relieved by Captains
Hopper and Townley, who silenced the enemy's guns, and during
the remainder of the day rendered them useless, our sharpshooters
picking off every rebel gunner who ventured to show his head.
Our army at this time was facing northward, and operating against
Richmond. The enemy held a strong line of works, extending
from Fort Darling on the right to the Appomattox River on the
left, and it was towards the capture of this fort, which commanded the James, that the attention of our forces were particularly
directed.
On the 15th a sharp musketry fire was kept up all day, but no
general demonstration was made. During the day, learning that
the enemy were in very strong force, and preparing to assume the
defensive, General Heckman, whose old brigade held the extreme
right, asked for reinforcements of infantry and artillery, but these




THE NINTH REGIMENT.                   241
could not be furnished. During the evening, the purpose of the
enemy to make an attack becoming still more obvious, a second
request for reinforcements was made, but being again denied,
preparations were at once made to hold the position without them,
if at all possible. Passing along his thin and extended line, the
gallant Heckman apprised his men of the probability of an attack,
and directed them to construct as quietly and rapidly as possible a
breastwork of such materials as they could gather, in order that
they might defend to the last the position which it was so important
they should hold. Silently but rapidly stacking their arms, the
men obeyed the order of their chief, in whose sagacity they had
implicit confidence, and whose expectation of an attack was very
soon realized. At midnight, the rebels moved out from their works,
massing strongly on Heckman's extreme right, held by the Ninth
New Jersey. Between this point and the river, a distance of a
mile and half, were posted two squadrons of cavalry, who, however,
could not operate owing to a dense swamp. Just before daylight,
the enemy, having obtained position, rushed with great impetuosity
upon the pickets, but after a desperate struggle was forced back
by the heroic Captain Lawrence, and day broke, thanks to the
vigilance of Heckman and the gallantry of his men, with our lines
still unbroken. But that day which broke so calmly over the
field, (16th) was a sad one for the " Star Brigade." Shortly after
dawn, under cover of a dense fog which completely concealed the
enemy from our view, five picked brigades in column debouched
from the rebel works, and rapidly advancing, drove in our pickets,
pressing up on a run to our main line. Heckman's Brigade, hearing
their approach, swept instantly into line, and in steady column
awaited their coming. On and on they came, careering madly to
the shock. Still the veteran brigade stood immovable, holding its
fire. But at last, when only five paces intervened between the
rebel bayonets and that inflexible line, one simultaneous, resistless
volley swept into the faces of the exultant foe, smiting scores to
the earth, and hurling the whole column backward in dismay and
confusion. But soon, encouraged and rallied by their officers, the
doomed rebels, reforming, again advanced to the attack, but
31




242              NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
only to be again repulsed, hundreds falling at every discharge of
our well-aimed muskets.  Finding that it was impossible to force
Heckman's  position, the enemy  now  changed  his  front, and
attempted to flank his extreme right, held by the Ninth, but here,
too, the right wing  having been reversed, they were met by a
heavy fire of musketry, and again for a moment faltered.  But
soon they once more advanced in column by brigade, and the
Ninth, being without artillery and withal vastly outnumbered, was
compelled to give way. While this movement (involving a change
in the position of the Ninth) was being executed, General Heckman,
whose aids were engaged in other parts of the field, passed along
the line to a point where the Twenty-third Massachusetts was supposed to be stationed, but where he found instead a rebel sergeant,
with a squad of men, who at once demanded his surrender.  With
rare 9naivettc, however, the General responded  by  bidding  the
sergeant attend to his duty, saying, in reply to a further inquiry,
that he was "Major Anderson of General Ransom's staff."  This
seemed to satisfy the sergeant, who at once marched off; but Heckman was as yet by no means extricated from his predicament, the
fog being still so very dense as to make it impossible for him  to
distinguish his whereabouts.  However, he made a dash, and immediately found himself on a rebel line of battle, headed by the traitor
Gracie, formerly of Elizabeth, New  Jersey, who commanded an
Alabama brigade. Gracie, at once recognizing the General, of course
took him in charge, remarking with a leer, " Heckman, I am right
glad to meet you under these circumstances, and am proud to say
that I have been fighting Jerseymen all day." 2
The Ninth lost heavily in this battle, some one hundred and
21 " Before the General was captured, he said truly, and with bitterness:'I am outdone this time, when with only two sections of artillery and with one regiment and a
half of infantry, as reinforcements, I would have been able to prevent the sad catastrophe.' According to subsequent accounts, made by rebel prisoners and rebel official
reports,' the loss of the rebels in front of this (Heckman's) Brigade doubled in number
the whole of that brigade!' The loss of the Ninth was ten killed, seventy-seven
wounded and seventy-five missing; the loss on Thursday, when regiment left camp,
and on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, was two killed and twenty-three wounded; making a total of twelve killed, one hundred wounded and seventy-five missing during this
five days' engagement."-Diary qf Hermann Everts.




THE NINTH REGIMENT.                    243
fifty being killed and wounded. The regiment at the commencement of the engagement, had nineteen officers, thirteen of whom
were killed and wounded, and three taken prisoners. From first to
last the men fought with characteristic gallantry. At one time
during the battle, the colors of the regiment being in imminent danger of capture, the color-bearer, George Meyers, took them from
the staff, and secreting them upon his person, seized a rifle, and
killing two or three of the enemy, got away in safety. A member
of Company H, being badly wounded, two comrades were ordered
to carry him to the hospital in the rear. They had gone perhaps
one hundred yards bearing their wounded companion, when a shell
from the enemy exploding a few feet from them, severed their heads
from their bodies. which were otherwise mutilated in the most horrible manner. The three died as they had fought, as " comrades in
battle," always brave, always faithful to the flag. Among the
wounded in this engagement was Colonel Abram  Zabriskie, who,
while encouraging his men, was struck by a ball in the front part of
the throat, passing through the windpipe and lodging in the spinal
column of the neck. The brave Captain Lawrence, who was near at
the time, was directed to inform Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart of the
circumstance, with instructions to assume command, but Lawrence
also fell soon after, shot through the leg, which, being amputated,
he died two weeks later. Seeing that most of his officers were disabled, Colonel Zabriskie, although weak from loss of blood, went
himself in search of the Lieutenant-Colonel, to whom he transferred
the command, and then staggered to the rear, the gallant Captain
Thomas Burnett, who had also been wounded some time before,
and was now much exhausted, hastening to lend him  all possible
assistance. The Colonel, on passing to the rear, and seeing some
of his men retreating, attempted to rally them, but his voice failed
him, and he proceeded to the field hospital, where his wound was
dressed by Surgeon Woodhull, who, though from the first considering it mortal, did everything in his power to relieve the suffering
of his brave commander. But the faithful Surgeon, with all his
tender care, was not able to calm the mind of the wounded man,
whose thoughts were still with his command, his lips murmuring




244           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
continually, "Poor boys, poor boys; they are in a bad scrape!"
On Tuesday, the 17th, the Colonel was sent to Chesapeake Hospital
where he lingered until the 24th, when, with friends and relatives
around him, he breathed his last. One who served under him in
all his campaigns, says of him, that "he was not only highly
esteemed by his officers, but they looked upon him with a reverence
founded on a more noble, a more sublime impulse than that of mere
rank-a reverence springing from  a superiority of principle, of
knowledge, and of virtue rarely found in one so young. The rank
and file loved him no less sincerely, looking upon him as a father.
Every man in the Ninth would cheerfully have risked his life to
shield his Colonel from harm, and all felt his loss as that of a close
personal friend."
But Colonel Zabriskie and Captain Lawrence were not the only
officers who fell on that bloody day. The regiment also lost Captain
Edwin Stevens Harris and Adjutant Edward S. Carrell-the former
a son of Rev. N. Sayre Harris, of Ioboken, and the latter a son of
Rev. Mr. Carrell, Chaplain of the regiment. Both were brave and
efficient officers, and fell with their faces to the foe.2 Among the
wounded in the engagement were Captains Burnet, Hopper and
Townley, Lieutenants Brown and Shepherd, and Lieutenant-Colonel
Stewart, the latter being severely wounded in the thigh.  The
command of the regiment, the Major having been disabled by an
accident, devolved upon Captain Hufty, who led it, at the close of
the day, from the field. The repulse of the Ninth, however, disastrous as it had proved to that regiment, had proved of little advantage to the enemy. It is true that having turned this flank, he for
a time swept on unresisted, but presently encountering two regiments, fortunately moving into the break, he was hurled back with
heavy loss, and did not again advance to the attack on that part of
the line, though it subsequently fell back some little distance to a
new position.
During the three following days fighting was continued along the
front, but the Ninth was not engaged. On the night of the 20th, it
was called twice to repel the enemy, which was handsomely done
22 Both these officers had been married but a short time before this battle.




THE NINTH REGIMENT.                  245
in both instances. In one of these movements the regiment captured a large number of prisoners, including Major-General Walker
and other officers. During the 21st, the cannonading was continued,
out without decisive results. On that day, General Butler sent a
flag of truce to the enemy, offering to exchange Major-General
Walker for Brigadier-General Heckman, but the proposition was
declined, the rebels being evidently disinclined to afford the New
Jersey General another opportunity to unsheathe his sword against
them. Indeed, the Richmond Examiner, of May 19th, made substantially this admission, using the following language: " We congratulate Beauregard on his victory over Beast Butler, and have a
lively satisfaction at the destruction of Heckman's Brigade, and the
capture of its daring commander. His celebrated New Jersey Rifle
Regiment has been completely destroyed-thus ridding, although
at a late day, the bleeding Carolinas of a terrible scourge. Heckman
feels his imprisonment keenly, but his indomitable spirit does not
seem to be at all broken. At any rate, he is prevented, for a time,
from making further raids upon our lines of communication with
his'foot cavalry.'"  No language could constitute a better eulogy
of Heckman and his gallant command than this from the bitter
pen of an antagonist.
On the 22d, Major-General "Baldy" Smith having requested
that four men be sent him from the Ninth to act as scouts within
the rebel lines, privates James Van Buskirk and Robert White, of
Company B, and Marshall Howell and Daniel Johnson, of Company
H, volunteered and were dispatched on the perilous undertaking.
The first two penetrated to a point only two hundred yards from
Petersburg, where they were taken prisoners, and threatened with
hanging, being, however, afterwards taken to Beauregard's headquarters, whence they were sent to Andersonville, and afterwards
to Millen and Savannah. At the expiration of ten or eleven
months, they were paroled and sent to Annapolis, Maryland, where
they were exchanged, rejoining the regiment in the spring of 1865.
Both suffered much, while in prison, from scurvy and other diseases
incident to the "hells" in which they were confined. Marshall
Howell, who left camp at four o'clock on the afternoon of the 22d,




246           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
finding himself observed on passing our outer cavalry-picket post,
sought the shelter of the woods on the right, but had not proceeded
very far when he came upon two rebel pickets, who fired at him,
but without effect.  Pushing forward and hiding himself in the
woods, he finally got into the rear of the rebels, who were posted
on the edge of an open field, about one mile from Adam's Mill.
Here, taking position in a ravine, at a point which General Smith
had described to him before starting, he made his observations.
He saw the enemy engaged in re-constructing the track of the railroad which our forces had destroyed a few days before; and after
remaining some three hours, closely examining the ground, set out
on his return, reaching camp in safety at six o'clock on the evening
of the 23d. Two hours after, he reported to General Smith, who,
satisfied with his exploit, furnished him a proper recommendation
to General Butler, by whom, on the following morning, he was paid
the promised reward, five hundred dollars in cash, for the information received.
During the five days next ensuing, the Ninth was more or less
constantly engaged in skirmishing, severe' fighting at some times
taking place, but the withdrawal of Smith's Corps being ordered
for the purpose of reinforcing the Army of the Potomac, the regiment, on the 29th, embarked at City Point, and after some delays,
caused by getting aground, proceeded to White House, on the
Pamunkey River, where a landing was effected on the 1st of June.
From  this point, the regiment marched to Cold Harbor, where
Grant's army was already taking position. Reaching the scene of
action on the 3d, the Ninth was ordered to the front line, and almost
immediately became engaged. The fire of the enemy being very
severe, the Jerseymen hastily threw up a slight breastwork, using
their bayonets and even their pocket-knives to loosen the earth,
and their tin cups to scoop it up, (in the absence of spades and other
implements,) and with this covering renewed the assault with
unsparing vigor. Late in the afternoon, engineers arrived on the
ground to build a new work, and the rebels anticipating their
design, charged our lines with great fury, but were repulsed with
heavy loss, the engagement lasting an hour. Subsequently, the




THE NINTHI REGIMENT.                   247
combat was renewed and continued until darkness closed upon the
scene-having been of the most murderous and desperate character
throughout.  Owing to the heavy firing, it was impossible to afford
any relief to the wounded, and many perished miserably, crying
for help and praying for only a drop of water to cool their parched
tongues. On the 4th, the fighting was continued along the whole
line, but the Ninth was not engaged. On the 5th, it was again
ordered into the breastworks, but the army having already commenced its flank movement to the left, the hostilities were not
general. On the 6th, Burnside, who had been left to hold the right,
arranged an armistice3 of two hours, during which the dead were
hastily buried, being thrust into such graves as could be dug, and
the wounded brought in and carried to the rear. Many of the
latter had remained in the open air for three days, exposed not only
to the burning rays of the sun, but to the fire of both armies,
between whose lines they were lying. Upon the expiring of the
armistice, the firing on both sides was renewed, and continued until
the 11th, with more or less vehemence, but with less fatal results
than before. On the 12th, Grant having determined to pass the
Chickahominy far to Lee's right, General Smith's army gradually
withdrew from its position-the Ninth covering the withdrawal,and marched directly to White House, where it embarked and
proceeded to Bermuda Hundred.  The total loss of the Ninth
during the operations at Cold Harbor, extending from the 3d to
the 12th, was five killed and thirty wounded.
On the 15th, having reached Bermuda Hundred the evening
previous, and reported to General Turner, nine companies of the
Ninth New Jersey, with a part of the Twenty-third Massachusetts,
being all that was left of Heckman's old brigade, were, with other
troops whose organizations were lost, united under the title' of
Provisional Brigade, and attached temporarily to the Tenth Corps.
This brigade, on the morning of the 16th, moving out from its
breastworks, charged and entered the rebel fortifications, which it
held during the day; the Ninth participating in several skirmishes,
23 Surgeon Woodhull, of the Ninth New Jersey Volunteers, was in charge of the flag
of truce.




248             NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
and on retiring, burning all the buildings which had been used by
Beauregard as headquarters and for other purposes.  On reaching
the railroad, which had been destroyed on the 9th of May, but
afterwards rebuilt by the enemy, the men again tore up the rails
for a distance of a mile, at the same time leveling to the ground a
carefully-built rebel redoubt. The enemy, who had been reinforced
on the withdrawal of the Ninth, pursued nearly to the line of the
breastworks, but was easily repulsed. The regiment during these
operations, which formed a part of the assault on Petersburg, had
marched a distance of thirty-five miles in twelve hours, and had
all parts of Smith's army done as well, and moved as promptly,
the center line of works which protected that city might have been
carried. The fighting was continued for two or three days afterwards in this quarter, but the golden opportunity had been lost, the
enemy taking up a new and stronger line of defences, and Petersburg was not taken. On the 21st, the Ninth was advanced to a
new position, crossing the Appomatox and taking possession of the
rifle pits beyond the City Point and Petersburg Railroad, where, on
the day following, it assisted in repelling a charge of the enemy,
losing one man killed. At this time, the regiment was brigaded
with the Twenty-third, Twenty-fifth and Twenty-seventh Massachusetts, Eighty-ninth New York, Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania and
Fifth Maryland Regiments, but remained in the works, (the other
regiments retiring,) for some days longer, participating in several
sharp conflicts brought on by charges of the enemy, who was in
all cases repulsed. On the 25th, it was relieved, but again moved
to the front on the 27th, and on the 29th, had several men severely
wounded by the explosion of a shell.  Here, in the front line, the
regiment remained, with brief intervals of relief in the second line,
until the 29th of July, losing several men, but not having any pitched
engagement.  On the 29th, marching orders were received, and the
command proceeded to a new position to act as a reserve to the
Ninth Corps, in front of which the "Burnside Mine" was exploded
on the 30th. A  day or two after, returning to its position, the
regiment again went into the entrenchments, remaining for a fortnight, exposed to a steady fire from  the enemy. On the 16th of




THE NINTH REGIMENT.                    249
August, Major Hufty was wounded in the left arm, and the staff
of the regimental State colors was cut in two by a shot from a rebel
sharpshooter-nine bullets passing through the colors. On the 25th,
the regiment, after various movements on the right, crossed the
Appomattox, having left the front of Petersburg, and proceeded
to Point of Rocks. Up to this time, the Ninth had been sixty-four
days before Petersburg, fighting forty days in the rifle pits, from
which it was dangerous to move owing to the contiguity of the rebel
sharpshooters, and performing other service no less arduous or
perilous.  Often, when in the breastworks, the men were obliged to
remain for two or three days without being relieved, it being impossible to advance fresh troops to supply their places except on the
very darkest nights. At the Point of Rocks, an agreeable surprise
awaited the command.  General Heckman, having been exchanged,
had just arrived, accompanied by General Butler, and the brigade
being formed in line, cheering him as he came to the front, he proceeded to address them, though at first too much overcome by
emotion to speak with much freedom. It was no wonder that his
eye filled and his voice failed him as he looked along the thinned
ranks. The commanding form of Zabriskie was no longer seen at
the head of the gallant Ninth; the faces of Lawrence, Harris and
Carrell no longer shone along the line; Brown and Hobart, with
many others, equally brave and true, of the rank and file, were
missing, disabled by wounds, while Drake and Peters and a hundred
of their comrades,' whose voices would have swelled that day's
welcome, were still lingering in rebel prisons-victims to all the
torments of rebel ferocity. Ileckman would have been other than
he was had he not wept at the pathos of the scene and the memories
it evoked. But finding voice at last, he pledged himself, as the
best evidence he could furnish of his appreciation of their kindly
reception, to use his utmost endeavors to secure the return of the
brigade to its old "tramping ground" in North Carolina; and
with that, as a fresh gust of cheers swept along the line, took his
old place at the head of the column and with it moved forward to
its destination.
The fighting of the Ninth in Virginia was ended.  On the 17th
32




250            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
of September, it proceeded to Bermuda Hundred, and with the
Twenty-seventh  Massachusetts, embarked  for North  Carolina,
reaching Morehead City on the 21st, and proceeding at once to its
old camp at Carolina City. Here the regiment was rejoined by
Colonel Stewart and Major Curlis, and for the first time in ten
months the men were paid. About this time, the yellow fever
broke out in Newberne, introduced, as afterwards appeared, through
the devilish ingenuity of Doctor Blackburn, who had trunks, filled
with infected clothing, sent to the city for distribution. For a time,
the epidemic prevailed to a fearful extent among the citizens, some
one thousand nine hundred of whom died, but the soldiers, though
seriously affected, generally escaped fatal consequences. The army
surgeons were unremitting in their exertions to stay the pestilence,
and some thirteen of their number fell victims to it. Several
members of the Ninth, whose term of service had expired, and
who had stopped in Newberne on their way home, died of the
disease-Corporal John S. Parkhurst, of Company K, being among
the number. This brave soldier had been badly wounded at Newberne, but, although incapacitated for active service, refused a discharge, resolved in some way to serve his country. This he did
for two years in the capacity of Chief Clerk in the Foster General
Hospital, where he earned the esteem of all with whom he came in
contact. Sergeant Pulaski Hines, who served for two years in the
Signal Corps with Lieutenant Edward S. Moffatt, also fell a victim
to the epidemic.  The Sergeant possessed fine literary abilities, was
a brave soldier and had many friends.  Both Parkhurst and Hines
were from the city of Elizabeth.  The Ninth was also exposed,
about this time, to another scourge, the small pox, which prevailed
in a regiment of negro troops encamped near Carolina City, but by
cutting off communication and isolating each case as much as possible, the loathsome disease was fortunately excluded from the camp
of the " Star Brigade."
On the 21st of October, one hundred and eight men of the Ninth,
whose term of service had expired, left the camp for Trenton, where
they were mustered out. The party was accompanied by Color
Sergeant George Meyers, with the worn-out colors of the regiment.




THE NINTH  REGIMENT.                            251
which Colonel Stewart had directed should be delivered to the State
authorities, with the following letter:
" EADQUARTERS NINTH NEW JERSEY VOLUNTEERS, CAROLINA CITY, )
NORTH CAROLINA, October 15, 1864..
"To Jfis Excellency, Joel Parker, Governor of New Jersey:
" SIR:-I herewith have the honor to forward to you for safe keeping in the archives
of New Jersey, the National and State colors of the Ninth Regiment New Jersey Volunteer
Infantry. Three years ago they were entrusted to our hands. How well we have
performed our trust, our past record must show. In every engagement they have been
with us, and battle-worn and bullet-riddled as they are, we can proudly look upon
them with the consciousness that not upon a single thread is there the least speck of
dishonor or shame.
"At the expiration of original term of enlistment we now return them to the
authorities of our State, well assured that they will sacredly cherish them as priceless
relics of the brave men who have fallen, as well as the most precious deposit of those
who remain.
"Corporals Delaney, Company K; Hand, Company C; Hubner, Company A;
Garthwaite, Company G; Smith, Company D, the bearers of the State colors, were
severely wounded while bearing them at the battles of Newberne and Goldsborough,
North Carolina, and Drury's Bluff, Cold Harbor and Petersburg, Virginia.
"Color-Sergeant George Meyers has carried the National colors for the whole of the
three years, and by singular good fortune his life has been spared, and doubtless he
has known no prouder day than that in which he safely replaces them in the Capitol of
our State.  Understanding it to be your intention to furnish the regiment with new
National and State emblems, we can only say we shall be gratified to receive them, and
it shall ever be our utmost endeavor to preserve them as unsullied as are those we now
place in your hands.
I have the honor to remain, your Excellency's obedient servant,
JAMES STEWART, JR.,
Colonel Commanding.
On the 27th of October, Major Hufty rejoined the  regiment,
having entirely recovered from his wounds, and one month later,
Color-Sergeant Meyers returned from the North, bringing new
colors, together with a very complimentary letter from  Governor
Parker.  On  the  5th  of December, the regiment proceeded  to
Newberne,  and  embarking  on  gunboats,  was  transferred  to
Plymouth, at the head of Albemarle Sound, near the mouth of the
Roanoke River. Plymouth, during the previous summer, had been
taken from us by the rebels, but had been re-occupied by us late
in October. About the same time, the rebel ram Albemarle, lying
in the Roanoke River, had been destroyed by an expedition under
Lieutenant William  B. Cushing.  On landing at Plymouth, the
Ninth at once took possession of the town, the men quartering in
the houses,-which had been greatly damaged by the bombardment
by our fleet a few weeks previous,-and making themselves as




252            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
comfortable as possible. On the Ninth, the regiment, with detachments of several other regiments and two pieces of artillery,
advanced from the town in the direction of Gardner's Bridge, where,
the enemy's cavalry being met in some force, the Ninth, with the
gallant Stewart at its head, charged on a double-quick, speedily
dispersing the rebels, who left several of their wounded behind.
Still advancing, the Ninth bivouacked for the night about a mile
from Foster's Mills, and the next morning, resuming the march,
encountered the rebels strongly entrenched near Foster's Bridge.
A fierce engagement ensued, lasting over an hour, when the enemy
again withdrew, destroying the bridge as he retired. In this affair,
the Ninth had two men wounded, but took a number of prisoners,
including a Lieutenant, who took the oath and followed the column
several days. After repairing the bridge, the troops crossed and
took possession of the mill, in which they found a large quantity of
flour, and after a brief halt, pressed on towards Williamston, on
the Roanoke, discovering a force of the enemy on the way, but
being unable to overtake them. Late on the following night, (11th,)
the column reached Spring Green Church, in the direction of
Rainbow Bend. Here it was ascertained that a strong force of
infantry and cavalry, with several pieces of artillery, were posted
some distance ahead, at Butler's Bridge, and Colonel Stewart was
ordered to take the Ninth New Jersey, Twenty-seventh Massachusetts, and Third New York Light Artillery, and by a flank movement gain the enemy's rear, while the remainder of the force should
hold the enemy in front. The undertaking was known to be a
perilous one, but Colonel Stewart entered promptly upon it, passing
noiselessly down Butler's Creek, and, at the designated point,
stealthily crossing his men in single file upon the floating logs which
bridged the stream. Pushing on, the command soon reached Fort
Branche, grimly guarding the Roanoke, its garrison all unconscious
of their peril. Soon the fort was passed, but still the enemy gave
no sign. Hastily disposing his forces, two companies of the Ninth
were ordered to advance, and a moment after swept upon the rebels,
capturing couriers, cooks, pickets and detached parties of the enemy,
who did not so much as dream  of danger.  Indeed, the surprise




THE NINTH REGIMENT.                   253
was complete. Colonel Hinton, of the Sixty-eighth North Carolina,
commanding the fort, thinking that the troops were reinforcements
which he was expecting, and which were really only four hundred
yards in the rear, rode directly into our lines, and with many others
was taken prisoner. The excitement now became intense, but not
a sound was heard except the summons to halt and surrender, as
post after post of the enemy was taken. On reaching the vicinity
of the bridge, Colonel Stewart formed line of battle, the Ninth on
the right and the Twenty-seventh Massachusetts on the left, Company A  being deployed as skirmishers, with Company I as a
support, when an advance was at once made, the interior line of
the enemy's works being carried without a shot being fired. But
soon a loud "halt" was heard, then a shot and a rush succeeded,
and the works at all points were ours. The rebels flying towards
the bridge, Company I, Captain Charles Hufty, went in pursuit,
driving them, as was supposed, right into the grasp of the force left
on the front. But this expectation proved delusive.  Colonel
Frankle, who had command of the expedition, had unaccountably
failed to secure the Tarborough road, the only avenue by which the
enemy could escape, and thus they, after all, eluded our grasp,
much to the chagrin of Stewart and the men who had so effectively
performed the part of driving the game from cover. By this time,
however, the expected reinforcements had come up and occupied
the line of works which Stewart had just passed, but discovering
the fact, he promptly charged back over the ground he had
traversed, and speedily cleared the works, driving the enemy in
confusion far to the rear. During this movement a number of
additional prisoners were taken, and doubtless had Stewart been
in command of the expedition, the entire rebel force would have
been taken, together with all the works in that vicinity, along the
Roanoke and elsewhere.
On the 12th, the Ninth being again in the advance, the enemy
was once more discovered, but retired without giving battle. About
noon, the object of the expedition, which was to hold a portion of
the North Carolina State troops while operations were carried on
against the enemy at another point, having been accomplished, the




254           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
column came to a halt, and soon after commenced its return, reaching Jamestown on the evening of the 13th.  Thence the troops
were carried on steamers to Plymouth, where they remained until
the 22d, when another expedition proceeded up the Roanoke, returning, however, two days after, fruitless of results. The Ninth
remained at Plymouth until the 7th of January, 1865, when it proceeded to Carolina City-thus terminating one of the most fatiguing as well as unprofitable expeditions in which it was ever engaged.
During the entire movement, the men suffered greatly from long
marches, being poorly provided with shoes, while the absence of
overcoats and blankets during the severely cold nights, rendered
their condition anything but comfortable or desirable.
On the 14th of January, Lieutenant J. Madison Drake, who was
captured at Drury's Bluff on the 16th of May, 1864, returned to
the regiment, having effected his escape from the rebels by leaping
from a train of cars while in transitu from Charleston to Columbia,
South Carolina, and marching some seven hundred or eight hundred miles, most of the distance barefooted, and without hat or
suitable clothing. This gallant officer was warmly welcomed on
his return-the story of his marvelous escape finding many listening
ears. Colonel Stewart at once promoted him to a captaincy, but
the ill-health of Lieutenant Drake prevented an acceptance of the
commission. The Colonel anxious of retaining his services, then
kindly offered him an honorable position on the staff, but this was
also necessarily declined-the Lieutenant preferring his old position
in the command.
On the 1st February, four companies of the Ninth-E, B, H and
I-commanded by Major Hufty, proceeded to Newport, whence,
being there joined by Captain Graham's Cavalry, they marched to
Adams' Creek, a distance of thirty-one miles, and crossed over to
Hard's Island, then a notorious covert for guerrillas.  Dividing into
sections, the force thoroughly scoured the island. Captain Hopper,
piloted by two natives, succeeded in dispersing a gang of thieves,
and completely destroying their rendezvous. Having effectually
explored the island, the force returned on the 5th to Carolina City,
where the Ninth remained until the 4th of March. At this time,




THE NINTH REGIMENT.                  255
Sherman's victorious army, having cut loose from Savannah and
swept through South Carolina, was rapidly approaching the heart
of the old North State, the enemy in vain endeavoring to arrest his
progress. Indeed, his advance was already close to the line, carrying everything before it; on the coast, Fort Fisher had fallen, and
Schofield had occupied Wilmington; while at other points disasters
no less serious had overtaken the enemy, who, retiring inland, now
awaited grimly and doubtingly the final issue. Immediately upon
the occupation of Wilmington, Schofield ordered an advance upon
Kinston, with Goldsborough as its objective, and on the 4th of
March, the Ninth marched out from its camp with other troops
to participate in this movement; being brigaded with the Twentythird Massachusetts, Second Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, Eightyfifth New York and Battery C, Third New York Artillery, under
command of Brigadier-General Harland. Advancing on the line
of the railroad leading to Goldsborough, the command, on the 7th,
reached a point five miles east of Southwest Creek, where the enemy
was encountered in strong force, and a sharp skirmish ensued, the
Ninth being engaged during the entire day. At dusk, a charge
was made on the rebel breastworks, but without decisive results,
the regiment losing, however, Captaif Charles Hufty, who received
a wound from which he died a few days afterwards. During the
night, the Ninth fell back half a mile, joining the line of battle,
where it remained during the following day behind hastily-constructed breastworks. In the night, fighting was renewed, the
enemy, late in the afternoon, making seven distinct charges on our
left, resting on Wise's Forks, but being each time repulsed. The
Ninth, on this day, was ubiquitous, moving rapidly from one point
to another-at one' time repulsing a charge on the left, at another
returning on the double-quick to the center, charging the foe-being
ever in the thickest of the conflict, always at the very front. The
combat continued until evening, when the enemy, who had suffered
severely, retired from the field, leaving our forces in command of
the position. During the night, however, Lieutenant A. H. Evans,
of Company E, with a picket of sixteen men of the Ninth was
captured by the rebels, together with a number of men belonging




256           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
to the Twenty-seventh Massachusetts. On the following morning,
the enemy, apprised that reinforcements were hurrying forward to
our assistance, renewed the battle at an early hour. charging the
Union lines with great ferocity. During the day a force of eleven
brigades charged in solid column as many as eleven times in succession, but their desperate assaults were fruitless, our line standing
as immovable as a wall of granite. During the whole engagement
the Ninth fought with all its accustomed gallantry, winning the
most cordial plaudits from the Western troops, who witnessed their
resistless onslaughts upon the rebel ranks. The loss of the regiment
amounted to one officer (Lieutenant Joseph Wright), and nine men
wounded. During the evening, a remarkable silence pervaded the
rebel camp, inducing the conviction that they were evacuating their
stronghold, and this proved to be the fact, Captain Hopper, of the
Ninth, discovering, early on the following morning, that they had
retreated, leaving eight hundred dead upon the field.  These were
decently interred, together with some seventy of our own soldiers,
after which the command again advanced, passing through the abandoned works of the enemy on the right bank of Southwest Creek, and
reaching the Neuse River at noon on the 14th. Here the railroad
bridge had been destroyed and the woods fired by the retreating
rebels. Leaving the river and Kinston to the right, the column
pursued its march, crossing the river by pontoon bridges on the evening of the next day, and bivouacking southeast of Kinston-the
Ninth being detailed to do garrison duty in the town. On the 19th,
however, it was again placed in the advance, Colonel Stewart taking
charge of the brigade, and on the 21st, about noon, reached Wepton,
but a short distance from Goldsborough. Here the enemy having
a force of one thousand five hundred cavalry ana two hundred and
twenty-five infantry, brisk skirmishing commenced, but the rebels
were steadily driven, the Ninth pushing forward, in their eager
desire to enter Goldsborough, with resistless velocity. At length,
the suburbs were reached, when, with loud huzzas, the men dashed
through the principal street to the Court House, where, the mayor
being found, the town  was at once surrendered  to Colonel
Stewart. Two minutes after, the colors of the regiment floated




THE NINTH REGIMENT.                         257
triumphantly from  the top of the Court House-being the first
Union flag raised over the city-while cheer upon cheer rolled along
the streets, only to be taken up by the incoming troops, and rolled
back with deeper volume along the serried lines.  Colonel Stewart
at once detailed detachments of the Ninth to guard certain portions
of the town, and the main column, on coming up, were greatly
surprised to find a provost-guard already established, with Major
Hufty  as provost-marshal.   On the following  day, Sherman's
advance entered the town, and on the 23d, his whole force having
arrived, a general review was ordered. Sherman's troops entered
Goldsborough with wagon loads of provisions, numbers of cattle
and other live animals, with carriages drawn by four and six horses;
in some cases, they seemed to have carried off the entire product
and possessions of the plantations lying on their route.  During
the 23d, about one thousand prisoners were brought in, and over
one thousand two hundred negroes, flocking to our lines, were sent to
Newberne.  A large number of white refugees, men, women and
children, also appeared, clamorous for provisions, having been
reduced to the verge of starvation under the pressure of a relentless
rebel conscription. On the 25th, the engineer and construction
corps having arrived from  Newberne, the work of repairing the
railroad was commenced, and it being reported that the Ninth was
about to be relieved from provost-duty, a petition, numerously
signed by the citizens, was forwarded to the Commanding General
requesting that the regiment might be permitted to remain, the
conduct of the men having been such as to give general satisfaction.
On the 3d of April, however, the regiment was transferred to the
Second Brigade, Third Division, Twenty-third Army Corps, the
brigade, consisting of the Sixty-fifth Illinois, Sixty-fifth Indiana
and One hundred and Seventy-seventh Ohio, and seven days after
was relieved from provost duty."  On the 6th, a special order from
2 On the 10th, Lieutenant George Peters, Company G, who was taken prisoner at
Drury's Bluff, May 16, 1864, returned to the regiment. This officer shared the same
fate as Lieutenant J. Madison Drake, until the latter made his escape, October 6, 1864.
Lieutenant Peters remained at Columbia, South Carolina, two months, when, with
three brother officers, he escaped from Camp Sorghum, and took the swamp. After
marching some two hundred miles towards the mountains, they were finally captured
00




258             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Sherman's headquarters was read to the troops, announcing the
joyful intelligence of the capture of Petersburg and Richmond,
with five hundred cannon, three rams and three thousand prisoners,
and at once the entire army was filled with the wildest commotion
-the glad news, as it ran along the lines, stirring even veterans'
pulses like a bugle-peal. On the 10th, Colonel Stewart, being
relieved from command of the brigade, returned to his regiment,
which at once moved from the town, encamping for the night some
six miles distant. The following day, the march was resumed,
nothing, however, being seen of the enemy.  On the 12th, just
as the troops were preparing to continue the advance, a courier
arrived from General Sherman, announcing, as he rode along the
lines, "Lee has surrendered!"  The scene which ensued no pen
can describe.  Instantly one hundred thousand voices broke into
deafening huzzas, fifty bands struck up the old, familiar airs,
innumerable flags were fluttered joyously  along the line, and
" veterans of a hundred fights " danced and wept together for very
joy.  And was it any wonder?  These men, for four long years,
had faced all the perils of the field; had endured untold privations,
suffered sickness and wounds for the nation's sake; had, with unfailing hope, held on to the Cause amid all the gloom of disaster,
when scarcely a ray of promise shone through the battle-clouds, and
now at last the End towards which they had hewn their way with
royal fortitude and faith was in sight; the victory of law, of liberty,
of good government, for which they had marched, and fought and
suffered, was achieved.  WIas it any wonder that as the rebel flag
went down at Appomattox Court House, and the Confederacy
crumbled as the baseless fabric of a dream, these armies of ours,
everywhere in the widely-expanded field, grew wild with exultation,
and looked with eyes at once tearful and glad upon the flag under
which they fought-the symbol now  not only of an unbroken
by the Home Guards, who returned them to Columbia. Lieutenant Peters, a sincere
Christian, did much in relieving the necessities of his younger companion, Lieutenant
Drake, who suffered greatly during his long confinement. Lieutenant Peters deserves
well of his country; he served bravely in his regiment, and in the prison-pens of the
South suffered patiently-not a murmur ever escaping his lips, while others about him
bitterly anathematized the Government and its chief officers for failing to effect their
exchange.




THE NINTH  REGIMENT.                             259
nation..ity, but of a more perfect freedom, a more enlarged justice,
than ever before?  That day to hundreds of thousands of heroes,
as the song of triumph pealed through the land, visions of far-off
homes, where dear ones awaited their coming, loomed sweetly into
view; and through all the tumult, all the wild carnival of the
camp, faces of wives and children, of sisters and brothers, of grayhaired fathers and  mothers, shone radiantly  out, wreathed with
welcoming smiles.  The war, with  all its hideous horrors, was
ended now; peace had come; home was within view-was it any
wonder that the bugles broke into exultant paeans, that the drums
rolled in triumph, that the army of the Republic lifted its voice in
one grand song of thanksgiving?
From  that time forward, the march of the Ninth was a march of
triumph.  Reaching Raleigh on the 14th, it halted until the 2d of
May,2  when it proceeded by rail to Greensborough, near which
place an encampment was ordered, one  company, (G,) however,
25 The following from the Diary of Hermann Everts, shows the movements, &c., of
the regiment during this period:
" April 14tA. Marched about six a. nm.; halted several times; bivouacked finally in
open field, near Raleigh; the city had already been surrendered by the Mayor, William
H. Harrison, Honorable Kenneth, Doctor McKee, and several others, to General
Kilpatrick. After the surrender, a few of the rebel cavalry, who had remained as rearguard, fired on some of Kilpatrick's men, of whom two were captured and hung.
Governor Vance's dwelling was taken for General Sherman's headquarters, and the
State House used for Provost-Marshal and other offices.
"April 21st. Orderly Hulsart, Company D, Sergeant Wood, Company A, Sergeant
Fatty, Company G, Corporal Hill, Company G, and many others, who had been from
ten to eleven months in the numerous rebel prisons, seen their horrors and devilishlydesigned tortures, joined the regiment again, all of them unfit for duty, suffering from
scurvy, anasarca and general debility, contracted and produced in the filthy dens of
so-called chivalrous, but more properly hellish invention, to bolster up their traitorous
cause, by slow starvation, poisonous vaccination, &c.  They were in the prisons at
Libby, Augusta, Camp Sumpter, Georgia, Charleston, Florence, &c., &c. Their narratives differ but little from those already related. Hulsart reports nine deaths out of
sixteen captured, belonging to his company, (D.) Hill reports twelve deaths out of
sixteen captured, belonging to Company G.
"Lieutenant-General Grant, who had arrived on the previous day, reviewed the
troops: General Sherman on his right, and each division commander taking his position on the left, as troops arrived.
"April 27th. Orders for a move; moved southwest of camp; this day the papers
published the general order of Johnson's surrender, but the excitement was not so
much as had been expected.
" April 29th. Thirteen guns were fired at sunrise, one every half-hour afterwards,
and thirty-six at sun-down: one for each State, as ordered by the War Department, in
memory of Abraham Lincoln. The regiment formed line at ten a. m., to have the order
referring to the assassination, read to the men.




260               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
being dispatched to Charlotte, and another, (I,) to Salisbury for
guard duty.  On the 13th, these companies were rejoined by the
regiment, the Captain of Company G, making the following report:
"HEADQUARTERS COMPANY G, NINTH NEW JERSEY VOLUNTEERS,
GREENSBOROUGH, NORTH CAROLINA, May 13, 1865.
"SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report:' In accordance with orders
from Major-General Cox, I left Greensborough, North Carolina, with my company on
May 5, 1865, and proceeded by railroad to Salisbury, North Carolina, arrived there at
eleven, a. m. I left Salisbury at five, p. m., and was transported by rail to within five
miles of Concord, a station twenty-one miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The
next morning, May 6th, I marched to Concord and telegraphed to Charlotte for a
train. I received an answer, stating that an accident had happened to the downward
train, and that no train would run for a day or so. I immediately took up line of march,
and that evening encamped thirteen miles from Charlotte. The next morning, I resumed
the march and arrived in Charlotte at five and a half, p. m. 1 found the town filled with
rebel soldiers; raids were made by mobs on stores that had been left by the rebels.
Drunkenness and disorder generally had been the order of the day. I immediately
issued an order, assuming command of the post, also another, prohibiting the sale of
all'kinds of spirituous liquors. After my arrival, good order prevailed. The following
is the list of stores taken possession of and guarded by my command: Medical Purveyor's establishment, containing a large quantity of medical stores; there being no
Surgeon in my command. I had no means of determining the value of them. The
rebel Navy Yard, containing a large amount of machinery, iron, &c., most of which had
been taken from the Portsmouth (Virginia) Navy Yard. A number of boxes said to
contain the records of the rebel War Department, and all the archives of the so-called
Southern Confederacy. Also, boxes said to contain all the colors and battle-flags captured from the national forces since the beginning of the war; a quantity of naval
stores, and a quantity of commissary stores; a branch of the United States mint was
found, containing the machinery connected with it, all in good order. On Friday, the
12th, Brigadier-General Thomas, of the First Brigade, First Division, Twenty-third Army
Corps, arrived, relieving me of command of the post. On Friday, at five o'clock, p.
m. I received an order by telegraph to report to my regiment without delay. The
next day, the 13th, I had my command placed on cars, and reported at regimental
headquarters at Greensborough, at four o'clock, p. m.,the same day.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,' M. C. RUNYON,'Captain Commanding Company G, Ninth New Jersey Volunteers.
To E. W. WELSTED, Lieutenant and Adjutant Ninth Jersey Volunteers.'" 26
2G In connection with this report, the following account of Lieutenant George Peters,
of Company G, is of interest:
" As we approached the Yadkin River, on May 5th, we came up with the rear-column
of Johnston's army, on their way home, numbering eight to ten thousand; a situation
novel to us and all who witnessed it. For the first time we did come in contact with
the rebels, without having to fight. To see them swarming around us, and to hear
their expressions of friendship and good feeling, was, indeed, very strange to us, more
so while they outnumbered us one hundred to one; one-fifth of these being armed.
One remarked that he had never before seen the Yankees, without being compelled to
lay down, or without being ordered to do so. There were others who did not like the
way pursued by their Generals; these would rather have fought on than to succumb,
but the majority were tired of the war. Many stated that they would never have been
in the rebel army, if they could have avoided it. The delay at Salisbury was very
unpleasant, as, in case of any trouble, we would have been at their mercy, but everything passed off quietly, the troops being remarkably orderly. On the 7th, on our




THE NINTH  REGIMENT.                              261
On the 20th of May, Lieutenant Hopper, with thirty men, proceeded to Yanceyville, Caswell County, for the purpose of organizing police companies and electing twelve magistrates for the
county.  From  this time until the 14th of June, detachments of the
Ninth were employed  in various duties.  On that date, two  hundred and sixteen men of the regiment, whose term of service had
expired, were mustered out, and two  days after left for Trenton,
march to Charlotte, we met numbers of stragglers along the road; also citizen-stragglers, who were out to steal cotton, clothing, provisions,-in short, anything they could
lay hands on and make use of. It is doubtful if there are many or any other company
which has been situated as we were, surrounded and marching with our late enemies,
they outnumbering us, and that, too, when we were cut off from all our forces by nearly
one hundred miles of railroad, with a break in it, so that trains could not run. The
citizens of Charlotte we found very hospitable; the rich and well-to-do class seemed
to be very well satisfied with the change; the middle-class and the poor spoke bitterly
and with condemnation of Jefferson Davis and his clique. The military institution,
lately used for the Medical-Purveyor's office, was stored with great quantities of medicines, some of which, such as morphine and nitre, were very valuable; all with English
labels, and of English manufacture, which had been procured by blockade running.
Among others, we found two twelve-pound brass field pieces; two cannons; about
nine hundred small arms; four hundred thousand percussion caps; one thousand four
hundred pounds of powder; an immense quantity of sabers, cutlasses, &c., cartridgeboxes and other equipments. Out of a large number of flags and trophies, taken from.
our forces during the whole of the war, Captain Runyon picked the State-colors of the
Thirty-third New Jersey Regiment, intending to forward the same to the AdjutantGeneral of the State of New Jersey. The United States Branch Mint was found in
good order, but no specie or other valuables could be seen. Specie was plenty in the
hands of the citizens, and quantities of goods and arms were stored avray, which, by
this time, have been found and taken care of by the Colonel who came to relieve us.
As soon as Captain Runyon, commanding post, put guards where the archives of the
so-called Confederacy (about eighty-four boxes) were stored, General Johnston, who
still remained at Charlotte, communicated the facts to General Schofield, commanding
Department of North Carolina, at Raleigh, and a staff-officer was immediately dispatched, and arrived at Charlotte, to take charge of the valuable documents, and to
forward the same to Raleigh. There was no opportunity left for Captain Runyon to
earn laurels, and it is very doubtful if General Johnston would have reported as he did,
if no guards had been posted, and chance had been left to him to burn or destroy the
written and printed proofs of their shameful treachery and rebellion. Thus, we see,
that to the gallant old Ninth is due the enviable credit of having captured and preserved
from harm all the archives of the rebel government, their trophies, and many of their
valuable stores. Too much credit cannot be accorded to Captain Runyon for the manner in which he performed his peculiar duties, and it is doubtful if any one could more
judiciously have comported himself, when, with only a small company of men, he was
compelled to crowd his way through the thousands of rebel soldiers with whom he had,
as it were, just been encaged in the fiercest fight. The records here obtained by Captain Runyon have been, are and ever will be of so great value to the Government of
the United States, that it is almost impossible to magnify the importance of the capture
thus made. In less careful and scrupulous hands they might have been mutilated or
lost. But in spite of the wishes and schemes of rebel officers, who were present,
Captain Runyon insisted that they should be' severely let alone,' and in all their completeness succeeded in turning them over to the Government he served."




262               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
where they arrived on the 22d, being welcomed by the city authorities, and also entertained by the ladies of the town at the " Soldiers'
Welcome  Home."   On  the 12th  of July, the regiment,  as an
organization, was mustered out at Greensborough, and the next day
proceeded by rail to Danville, Virginia. Just before leaving Greensborough, the following congratulatory order from General Carter,
commanding that post, was read at the head of the regiment:
" HEADQUARTERS TWENTY-THIRD ARMrYi CORPS, DISTRICT OF GREENSBOROUGH, 
GREENSBOROUGH, NORTH CAROLINA, July 13, 1865.       1
"Colonel Jcanes Stewart, Jr., Ninth Newo Jersey Veteran Volunteer Infantry:
" MY DEAR COLONEL:-While it may be that I can add but little to the well-earned
reputation of the gallant officers and men of your veteran regiment-a reputation made
on many hard-fought fields, which have become matters of history-still I cannot
have you leave for your homes without joining my testimony to that of others, as to
the discipline, drill, gallant conduct, soldierly-bearing and efficiency of your noble
regiment. On the march, in camp, under fire [and in the performance of all the
duties of a soldier, the example of the Ninth New Jersey Veteran Volunteer Infantry
has been worthy of imitation, and entitles it to all praise and commendation.
"With your regiment, my relations have never been other than the most pleasant,
and I shall always cheris with the liveliest feelings of pleasure the fact that I have had
the honor to command such men.
"You return to your homes only after the rebellion has been crushed and peace
restored, with the proud consciousness that you, as a regiment, did your part nobly
and fully towards re-establishing the national authority, and securing the blessings
which I trust you may, under God's good Providence, long live to enjoy. While I
regret much the severance of the ties which have existed between us, I heartily congratulate you on a speedy return to the loved ones at home, who are, even now, so anxiously
waiting to greet and crown you with the victor's wreath, and shower upon you the
plaudits which are justly your due.
With the best and kindest wishes for yourself, your officers and men, and a' Godspeed' you on your'homeward-bound' journey, I am, my dear Colonel, with feelings
of attachment and respect, very truly, your friend,
"(Signed,)                             S. J. CARTER,
" Brigadier-General Commanding."
Leaving Danville on the 14th, the regiment reached City Point
on the following day, and at once embarked for Baltimore, were it
arrived on the 17th. Reaching Philadelphia the same evening, it
proceeded, after a brief delay, to Trenton, arriving at half-past six
o'clock on the following  morning."    The men were at once fur27 The Trenton State Gazette, noticing the arrival of the regiment, said:
"The Ninth, armed with Springfield rifles, had been frequently exercised in targetfiring, and were expert marksmen. While encamped at Meridian Hill, some of the' crack shots' of the Berdan Sharpshooters challenged the Ninth. This was accepted,
and a match to a trial of skill took place, resulting in the victory of the Ninth. * *
It is remarkable that of the officers returning with the regiment, all except the Colonel
and Lieutenant-Colonel originally joined the regiment as privates. This not only
shows that the Ninth has seen hard service, and lost many officers, but that it was composed of a good class of men."




THE NINTHI  REGI1i[ENT.                          263
loughed until the 28th, when the final discharge-papers were issued,
and on the day following, after nearly four years of service, the
Ninth Regiment ceased to exist.  Before the final separation, the
officers of the regiment presented Colonel Stewart a beautiful and
costly badge-being of gold, richly enameled-as an evidence of
"their respect and  affection."    Subsequently, upon  the strong
recommendation of the various commanders under whom  he had
served, Colonel Stewart received a commission as Brigadier-General,
to date from  March 10, 1865, the day of the battle of Wise's Forks,
North Carolina, in which he handled a brigade with distinguished
skill and efficiency.
New  Jersey will ever be proud of the record of the regiment
which thus, having helped to achieve a just and honorable peace,
folded its standards and  passed  into  history.2~   Its story is the
story of the war-its eulogy is its own great deeds.  During its
term of service it participated in forty-two battles and engagements,
2s WMe append the following sketches of some of the officers of the Ninth Regiment:
BRIGADIER-GENERAL JAMES STEWART, JR..
James Stewart, Jr., was born in Warren county, in the year 1840. Before the war
he was engaged in a lucrative mercantile business in the city of New York. Coming,
however, from patriotic stock, he promptly forsook his business at the call for troops,
and entered the service as a First-Lieutenant in the Ninth Regiment. At the battle of
Newberne, he distinguished himself by silencing a rebel battery which had greatly
annoyed the Union forces. He took an active part in the Goldsborough expedition
in 1863, losing some thirty men of his company in killed and wounded, and displaying
the utmost gallantry in every engagement. After his promotion to the Colonelcy of
the Ninth, he commanded, during a large part of the time, a brigade, and at one time a
division-being frequently complimented by his superiors for his ability and courage.
In his regiment he was highly esteemed, the men having the most implicit confidence
in his efficiency and skill as an officer. In many respects, he was peculiarly qualified
for the life of the soldier, possessing largely that element of good nature which
reconciles its owner to any fate, however perilous or unpleasant, and having, withal,
a heartiness of manner, and a genuine kindness of disposition which secured him
friends in such numbers as to make even the camp something of a home to him. He
had, moreover, the love of adventure, and the fondness for hazardous enterprises
which constitute invariable characteristics of the true soldier. In the hottest battle,
he was as serene as upon parade; in the face of death, his laugh was as cheery and
buoyant, his smile as natural and unconstrained as in the drawing-room, or around
the camp-fire. But under all this smiling exterior, there was a character as sturdy, a
nature as thoughful and earnest as ever grew-just as under the tree in blossom there
are the solid, massive trunk and the great roots clasping the immovable rocks far down
below.
Upon the return of peace, General Stewart marched home at the head of his command, receiving a hearty welcome from the people of the State, who rejoiced to do
honor to one who had so honored them.




264               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
and traveled by rail and on foot a distance of seven thousand  six
hundred  and fifty-two miles, making, while in  North  Carolina,
some of the most remarkable marches on record. Entering the
COLONEL ABRAM ZABRISKIE
Was the third son of Honorable A. O. Zabriskie, now Chancellor of this State, and was
born at Hackensack, New Jersey, on the 18th of February, 1841. He entered the College of New Jersey in 1856, and graduated with honors in 1859, immediately commencing the study of the law, which he prosecuted until he entered the army. From his
earliest childhood, he had been distinguished by vigor and clearness of intellect, no less
than by great intrepidity of character, and those characteristics made him a man of
mark from the moment he enlisted in the nation's service. At the time when the
rebellion flowered into open hostilities, Zabriskie had just completed his preparations
for a tour in Europe; his state-room had been engaged, and he confidently expected to
sail with Honorable William L. Dayton, our Minister to France. But he was not one
to consult his own pleasure when the country was in peril, and instantly upon hearing
of the fall of Sumter, he decided to abandon the trip to which he had looked forward
with so much satisfaction. Soon after, having deliberately determined upon his course,
he entered the service as Adjutant of the Ninth Regiment, with which he was identified
until he fell upon the field. Although only nineteen years of age, he commanded from
the first the profoundest esteem  of his comrades, among whom his influence was
unbounded. Ability, courage, the most sterling patriotism were all his, and wherever
placed, these high qualities found conspicuous manifestation. As Colonel of the Ninth
Regiment, his record was not merely spotless; it was lustrous. Even in his last hours,
when the shadow of death lay upon his face, and life's beauty and joy faded like a
pleasant picture from his darkened vision, his thoughts were of his country and of the
comrades who were still, with heroic endurance, braving the perils of a doubtful field.
The high estimate placed by the public upon Colonel Zabriskie's services, was clearly
exhibited in the expression of the press, as well as the action of public bodies, immediately upon his death. The Common Council of Jersey City, at a special meeting
called for the pu:rpose, adopted a series of resolutions warmly applauding his patriotic
course and lan.en1 ing his decease as a loss to the country at large. The members of
the bar of Hudson County issued a memorial commemorative of his virtues, while all
the leading journals pronounced glowing eulogies upon his character. His remains
were interred at Greenwood Cemetery, May, 28, 186-, four days after death, and twelve
after receiving the fatal wound.
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL WILLIAM B. CURLIS
Raised a company, and was commissioned a Captain of the Ninth Regiment by
Governor Olden on the 23d of September, 1861. Although he held a commission from
President Lincoln as Postmaster, he cheerfully forsook the emoluments and comforts
of civil life for the dangers and honors of the battle-field. Captain Curlis acted with
great gallantry in the various battles in which the regiment was engaged, and February
13, 1863, was commissioned Major for gallant services. He was appointed LieutenantColonel June 20, 1864. In April, 1863, he was appointed Provost-Marshal of the subdistrict of Beaufort, North Carolina, and remained until the September following, when
he was relieved at his own request, and returned to the regiment. ~ On the 1st of October,
1864, he was ordered to take command of the Twenty-third New York Cavalry,
Seventeenth Massachusetts Infantry, one detached company of the First North Carolina
Cavalry, one company of the First North Carolina Infantry, and one company of the
Second Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, and occupy a nine-gun fort near his quarters,
Which he did, holding the command until the 1st of February, 1865. He was mustered
out of the service on the 19th of the same month on his own application.




THE NTAITH  REGIMENT.                           265
service with one thousand one hundred and forty-two men, and
at various times strengthened by recruits, the mean strength of the
regiment when mustered  out was only six hundred men.  Eight
officers offered their lives a sacrifice on the nation's altar, while
twenty-three received wounds in battle-most of them of a serious
nature. Sixty-one enlisted men were killed in battle, and four
hundred wounded.  Forty-three men  died from  wounds, and one
hundred  from  disease.  The total loss of the regiment from  all
causes  was  one  thousand  six  hundred and  forty-six men.  No
fact. could more strikingly exhibit the consuming nature of the
campaigns in which the regiment participated than this, clearly
authenticated by official reports.  The entire number of men and
officers taken  prisoners was about one hundred and thirty, fortyCAPTAIN BENJAMIN W. HOPPER
Entered the regiment as a Sergeant. His bravery at Roanoke and Newberne attracted
the attention of General Heckman, who promoted him to a Lieutenantcy and subsequently to be a Captain. In this position he showed superior ability. His company
was soon brought to a high state of efficiency; while his men, seeking to emulate his
example, performed prodigies of valor. Captain Hopper on the return of the regiment
was senior officer of the line. No officer enjoyed a better reputation for bravery and
skill, while few equaled him in those qualities which go so [far to make up a perfect
soldier. Captain Hopper was repeatedly complimented for bravery.
CAPTAIN THOMAS BURNETT
Was also a fine soldier. At one time he acted as drill-sergeant, and in performing the
"manual," his rifle seemed to be part of himself; in its use none could excel him.
Whenever an important and dangerous duty was to be performed, this gallant
officer was sure to be selected. He never knew failure where success was possible.
At the close of the war, he participated in the attack on Canada-holding a commission as Lieutenant-Colonel in the New Jersey (Fenian) Regiment.
LIEUTENANT J. MADISON DRAKE,
at the time the war broke out, was a citizen of Trenton, where he had been for some
years connected with journalism. He was among the first to enlist, and within three
days after the fall of Sumter, recruited seventy-seven men. Being chosen Captain, he
declined the position, and served with the Third Regiment (three months' men) as
color-bearer. Upon his return, he organized another company for the war, but troops
not being at that time received, he returned to his business. When, however, the
Ninth Regiment was formed, he joined it as a Sergeant of Company K, in which position he served for eighteen months, when he was made Second Lieutenant of Company
K, having meanwhile declined a Captaincy in another regiment. After commanding
Company D for nearly a year, he was made First Lieutenant of Company K. In the
battle of Bermuda Hundred, May 16, 1864, he was captured while in the advance, and
after being confined for some time in Libby Prison, was carried to Macon, Georgia,
thence to Savannah and thence to Charleston, suffering all the horrors which rebel
malignity could inflict, but finally, in October, effecting his escape, and after forty-seven
days wandering in the mountains, reaching the Union lines in safety.
34




266                 NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
seven of this number dying while in the hands of the enemy. The
principal battles and engagements of the regiment were as follows:
Roanoke Island, North Carolina, February 8, 1862; Newberne, North Carolina, March
14, 1862; Fort Macon, North Carolina, April 25, 1862; Young's Cross-road, North
Carolina, July 27,1862; Rowell's Mill, November, 2, 1862; Deep Creek, North Carolina,
December 12, 1862; Southwest Creek, North Carolina, December, 13, 1862; before
Kinston, North Carolina, December 13, 1862; Kinston, North Carolina, December
14, 1862; Whitehall, North  Carolina, December 16, 1862; Goldsborough, North
Carolina, December 17,1862; Comfort, North Carolina, July 6, 1863; near Winton,
North Carolina, July, 26, 1863; Deep Creek, North Carolina, February 7, 1864: Cherry
Grove, North Carolina, April 14, 1864; Port Walthall, Virginia, May 6 and 7, 1864;
Swift Creek, Virginia, May 9 and 10, 1864; Drury's Bluff, Virgina, May 12, 13,
14, 15 and 16, 1864, five days in succession; Cold Harbor, Virginia, June 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
9, 10, 11 and 12, 1864, ten days in succession; Petersburg, Virginia, from June 20 to
August 24, 1864; Gardner's Bridge, North Carolina, December 9,1864; Foster's Bridge,
North Carolina, December 10, 1864; Butler's Bridge, North Carolina, December 11,
1864; near Southwest Creek, North Carolina, March 7, 1865; Wise's Fork, North
Caolina, March 8, 9 and 10, 1865; Goldsborough, North Carolina, March, 21, 1865.




CHAPTER VIII.
THE TENTH REGIMENT.
THE Tenth Regiment had a history peculiar to itself.  Being
recruited under authority from the War Department, without the
consent and against the wishes of the Governor of New Jersey,' its
earlier experience was very similar to that of the First Cavalry,
which was raised under like circumstances. The organization was
first known as the " Olden Legion."  It was recruited by William
Bryan, of Beverly, (at which place it had its headquarters,) who
was its first Colonel, John M. Wright being Lieutenant-Colonel,
and Matthew  Berryman, Major; Captain Henry A. Perrine, of
Company K, afterwards Major of the regiment, was also one of the
original officers.
The regiment proceeded to Washington in December, 1861, but
for a time was of little service, falling almost immediately, indeed,
into disrepute, owing to its defective organization and the absence of
all proper discipline.  In January, 1862, the Secretary of War
applied to Governor Olden to take charge of the organization as
part of the quota of New Jersey and place it on a proper footing
for service, but this the latter declined to do, being unwilling to
become responsible for the character of an organization raised and
officered in contravention of all the rules he had established and
observed in organizing other regiments. Later in the same month,
however, the Governor was again appealed to by the Secretary of
1 On the first roster of the regiment, after being placed in State service, is this
endorsement:
" This regiment was raised by individuals, not authorized by the State, and accepted
by the War Department as an independent organization, some time in the fall of 1861,
and was not known by the State authorities until it was placed under their care,
January 29, 1862."




268           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
War, who stated, among other things, that it would be necessary to
disband the regiment unless the State would assume control of and
properly arrange it. Thus appealed to, Governor Olden sent for
Colonel William R. Murphy, in whose discretion he had confidence,
and after referring to his uniform opposition to the regiment on
account of the manner in which it was raised, proposed to accede
to the request of the War Department, provided that Colonel
Murphy would accept the command, and address himself to the
task of rescuing the regiment from the demoralization into which
it had fallen. After a full and free conference, Colonel Murphy
acquiesced in the proposition of the Governor on condition that the
Quartermaster of the State should be directed to equip and supply
the regiment like the others, and that he (the Colonel) should be
permitted to select its officers.  These conditions being assented to,
Colonel Murphy at once prepared to accept the command, and on
the 19th of February, 1862, reported to Brigadier-General Casey
at Washington, was mustered in and ordered to join the regiment.
At this time the command was in an almost hopeless condition.
One of the radical defects of its organization consisted in the fact
that it included a company enlisted and equipped as cavalry, thus
impairing its unity and necessitating a diversity of drill and discipline eminently prejudicial to its regimental character. Many, if
not all the men, attached to this company, were in arrest for refusing
to do infantry duty, and chaos prevailed in all directions. The
matter was at once brought to the notice of the Commanding
General, who, seeing that a wrong had been done to these men either
through ignorance or by design, issued an order to muster them
out, while at the same time authority was given to the Governor
by the War Department to recruit a company of infantry to complete the regimental organization. This being done, followed by
the discharge of a considerable number on account of physical disability, and the commissioning and mustering of field and company
officers, the prospect of regimental usefulness became more encouraging. But before this was completed, the Army of the Potomac
had gone to the Peninsula, leaving the regiment attached to the




THE TENTH REGIMENT.                    269
command of Brigadier-General Wadsworth.  The morale of the
regiment continued to improve rapidly, and this, together with its
superior soldier-like appearance, as compared with others, soon
attracted attention, and early in the summer of 1862, it was ordered
into Washington and placed upon provost-duty. The command,
however, soon became anxious for more active service, and the
Colonel, who fully shared this feeling, accordingly remonstrated
with the authorities against the detention of the regiment at that
post, when, as it seemed to him, it could be more usefully employed
elsewhere. To all his entreaties, however, but one reply was made,
namely, that his was the only regiment that could be trusted, and
with this gratifying, but unsatisfactory compliment, he was obliged
to be content. The regiment continued doing provost-duty during
the entire remainder of the year-Major Charles H. Tay, of the
Second Regiment, being in September appointed Lieutenant Colonel-and in the early part of 1863 permanent barracks were erected
for its occupation.  This seeming to indicate that no change in the
character of its duties was to be expected, Colonel Murphy, who
had hoped for active service, on the 12th of March resigned his
commission as Colonel, and Colonel I. O. Ryerson, formerly of the
Second Regiment and more recently of the Twenty-third, was
appointed in his place.
At length, on the 12th of April, the desire of the regiment for
service elsewhere was gratified, orders being received directing it to
proceed at once to Suffolk, then menaced by the enemy in force
under Longstreet. Suffolk being an important railroad junction,
lying at the head of the Nansemond, twelve miles from its confluence with the James River, covering the landward approaches to
Norfolk, and virtually commanding that part of North Carolina
east of the Chowan River, its occupation by our troops was of the
greatest importance, and it had, therefore, early been seized and
fortified.  No serious demonstration, however, had been made
against it until April 10th, when Longstreet suddenly advanced
with a force of some forty thousand men, designing to cross the
Nansemond, and seize the roads to Norfolk, upon which he might




270           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
then march unmolested. General Peck, however, penetrating his
designs, prepared promptly to defeat them, and it was to aid in the
execution of his plans that the Tenth, with other regiments, was
hurried to his department. Reaching its destination, the regiment,
being attached to Corcoran's Brigade, was placed in the works at
the front, extending across the Edenton road, active operations
meanwhile going on at other points of the line. At length, on the
24th of April, it was sent out on a reconnoissance on the Edenton
road, with a view of ascertaining the location, strength and plans
of the enemy, the mnovement resulting in a lively skirmish, in which
the enemy's outposts were driven back.  The loss of the Tenth
was only one or two men wounded. The regiment was not again
engaged until the 4th of May, when Longstreet having raised the
siege, General Peck sent out a column of some seven thousand
men, including Corcoran's Brigade, in pursuit. Coming up with
the enemy at Carsville, near the Blackwater, the Tenth speedily
became engaged, capturing some prisoners and inflicting considerable loss on the retreating foe. This was the first severe engagement in which the regiment had participated, but the men behaved
with marked steadiness, showing that the discipline to which they
had been subjected had not been without influence in maturing
their soldierly character.  The regiment lost several men killed and
wounded.
Longstreet having abandoned the siege, many of the troops under
General Peck were withdrawn for service elsewhere, the Tenth
being ordered to join the Army of the Potomac during the month
of July. Upon arriving at Washington, it was sent to Philadelphia,
where it was feared the enforcement of the conscription would
lead to disturbances of the peace. Here the regiment remained for
two months on provost-duty, becoming very popular with the
citizens, who flocked in crowds to witness its dress-parades.  The
discipline of the regiment at this time was equal, perhaps, to that
of any regiment in the service, and elicited cordial commendation
from all who visited the camp. In the month of September, the
regiment was sent to Pottsville, Pennsylvania, where there were
indications of riots among the miners, and thence was ordered to the




THE TENTH REGIMENT.                    271
fords of the Potomac near Shepherdstown, were it remained about
a month, doing picket duty with other troops, the rebels under
Imboden threatening a raid into that part of Maryland.  In
November, riots having broken out in other parts of the mining
regions of Pennsylvania, it was ordered to Mauch Chunk, where it
was placed in charge of the sub-military district of Carbon, composed of the County of Carbon and part of Luzerne, one company
remaining at Mauch Chunk, and the others placed at various
points-the right and left companies being stationed seventeen
miles distant from each other. Here the regiment remained all
winter. During much of this time, Colonel Ryerson was President
of a Commission which tried nmany of the semi-rebels of that region,
who were encouraging desertions, interfering with recruiting, interrupting mining operations and murdering loyalists conspicuous for
their devotion to the national cause. Lieutenant-Colonel Tay was
also engaged for a time on court-martial duty. During the winter,
the regiment re-enlisted and was otherwise recruited, but to such
an extent were desertions instigated by the tories of that section,
that the Colonel, who was also anxious to be united with the Army
of the Potomac, urged the Department to place his command in the
field. This request was finally granted, and in the month of April,
the regiment proceeded to Brandy Station, where it was attached
to the First New Jersey Brigade, only a short time before the army
crossed the Rapidan in the grand movement against Richmond.
The record of the regiment from this time forward was almost
identical with that of the First Brigade, which is elsewhere given.
It shared in all the battles of the Wilderness and fought with its
corps all the way to Petersburg, on every field displaying conspicuous gallantry. In the battle of the 6th of May, it suffered severely,
especially in the assault of the rebel General Gordon on our right,
made just before dark.  In the engagement resulting from this
assault, the regiment lost nearly one entire company in prisoners
alone. Among the mortally wounded on this day, was Colonel
Ryerson.2 During the 7th, the regiment was not engaged, but on
the evening of the 8th, it again met the foe. At this time, War2 At the close of the heavy fighting of the day, the Tenth Regiment was taking




272               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
ren's Corps, which, coming up with the enemy at Alsop's Farm
early in the day, had vainly essayed to carry his position, was preparing to make a second attack, and the Sixth Corps having arrived,
one division was ordered to take part in the movement. The Tenth
Regiment-no other regiment of the First Brigade participatingwas accordingly put in on the right of Crawford's Division of the
Fifth (Warren's) Corps, and moving forward, bravely attacked the
enemy in its front. Unfortunately, however, the regiment on its
left became in some way separated from  it, and the two being thus
isolated, were pounced upon by the enemy with great celerity and
force; compelling them  to give way, with heavy loss-the Tenth
repose in line, though ordered to be in momentary expectation of a rush by the enemy.
Colonel Ryerson had just'risen upon his knees to reconnoiter, when his corps-badge
upon his cap was torn away and his skull fractured by the Minie ball of a sharpshooter.
He was carried to a log-cabin in the rear, where two of his Captains, with Captain
Cooke, Adjutant-General of the brigade, waited by him through the night, unable to
get surgical assistance, expecting his speedy death and the sad duty of burying him.
During the night, our line fell back, and early in the morning the whole party were taken
prisoners. Colonel Ryerson was left at Locust Grove Confederate Hospital, where he
died on the 12th, attended by a paroled Vermont surgeon who marked his grave and
so described it that at the close of the war his remains were found, and re-interred in
the cemetery of his native town.
Colonel Henry Ogden Ryerson was the fifth child of the late Thomas C. Ryerson,
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey from 1834 till his death in
1838. He was the youngest of three sons and a daughter who survived their father,
the eldest being Martin. Ryerson, who also held for a time, and until his resignation,
the same office. On the mother's as well as father's side, he was descended from loyal
stock. His father's ancestors were connected with the Society of Friends, and yet
had their representative in the Quartermaster's Department of the Revolutionary
Army. His father did his tour of duty in the militia in the War of 1812, and the
records of the State Historical Society sufficiently show the part taken by his mother's
family in the War of the Revolution, her father and uncles being field or staff officers in the Continental Army, and her grandfather one of the New Jersey Committee
of Safety. Her uncle, Aaron Ogden, was aid to Layfayette, and a trusted agent of
Washington in connection with the affair of Andre and Arnold.
Colonel Ryerson was born at Newton, Sussex County, January 10, 1826, and was left
an orphan by the death of his mother in 1835, and his father in 1838. Declining a
collegiate course, he passed from the grammar-school directly to the study of the law,
and was licensed in 1847. From that time until 1855, he lived an unsettled life in
Chicago, California and the Sandwich Islands; having gone to the Islands on account
of intermittent fever, which was incurable in San Francisco.  After returning to
New Jersey, and taking his counsellor's license, he lived in Belvidere until 1857, when
he returned to his native town, where at the breaking out of the rebellion he held the
office of public prosecutor. While engaged in taking depositions in Chancery at Jersey
City, he saw the first call for volunteers, returned home, and, baggage in hand, walked
directly to the recruiting office and volunteered as a private. Elected Captain by his
comrades, he led them to the field as Company B, of the gallant Second Regiment.
As an officer of this regiment, Captain, and afterwards Major, Ryerson had high reputation for soldierly bearing, tactical skill and high discipline. His enthusiasm led him to




THE TENTH  REGIMENT.                             273
having eighty men and several officers captured, including Colonel
Tay, who, being  with the other prisoners, taken to  the rear, was
next day started for Richmond. but was fortunately on the same
day rescued from  the hands of his guards by General Sheridan, at
Beaver Dam  Station.  The total loss of the regiment up to this
time, aside from  prisoners, had been one hundred and thirteeneighteen killed  and ninety-five wounded.  In  the fighting  along
the Po, the Tenth shared  with  the brigade, and at Cold Harbor
again suffered largely, being in the first day's engagement in the
third line of battle, and losing some seventy in killed and wounded.
In the assault upon the enemy's position on June 3d, the regiment
practice the bugle calls of the skirmish line, and when assigned to command in brigade
drill he was always ready and accurate. At the battle of Gaines' Mill, six companies of
the Second Regiment, under Colonel Tucker and Major Ryerson (promoted to that vacancy in his regiment just before leaving Alexandria,) were sent in to relieve a whole
regiment. So rapid and effective was their fire that they kept a whole brigade at bay,
until our line had fallen back on both sides of them. Exposed to a double cross-fire,
and the gallant Tucker mortally wounded, the regiment began a hasty retreat; Major
Ryerson seized the standard, and was rallying the battalion when he fell, shot through
both thighs, and bleeding so profusely, as he was carried away, that his attendants reported him mortally wounded in the abdomen, and left him on the field. There he
remained ten days, three of them without food. Water, however, was abundant in the
swamp, for one of his wounded brother officers paid a Confederate soldier ten dollars
in gold to drag him out of it to dry ground. That ten days' exposure, and three
weeks (before his exchange,) in a Richmond prison, gave him the fever, which
aggravated his wounds and kept him away from his regiment until the 1st of October.
With one wound still open, he rejoined his regiment as Lieutenant-Colonel, hurried to
the field by the record of his comrades at Crampton's Gap.
Just as the army began to move towards Manassas he was placed by General
Torbert over the Twenty-third Regiment of nine months men, and received a regular
commission as Colonel.  With this regiment he participated in the first battle of
Fredericksburg, where they were for a short time under heavy fire, and suffered
severely. When the Twenty-third was mustered out, Colonel Ryerson was transferred
to the Tenth, with which he served, as we have seen, until killed. While at Suffolk,
he performed (for a part of the time,) Brigadier's duty, and in that capacity received
General Peck's written compliments for his vigilance, knowledge of the stragetic
character of the country, &c.
Colonel Ryerson's courage, which was conspicuous on all occasions, was of the
kind which arises from  that pre-occupation of mind and intentness on an object
which exclude self. He never saw personal danger. But he was scrupulously careful
of his men in action, just as he was in camp, because he was responsible for their
welfare both to his superiors and to the country's cause. He was, besides, of a generous
disposition and anxious for the comfort of his command. A strict disciplinarian also,
he was yet beloved, because impartial towards officers and men. It is the testimony
of Chaplains that he was also mindful of the spiritual interests of his men, furnishing
all the assistance in his power for religious instruction, both in the camp and on the
march. Had he lived, it is known that he would have been promoted at an early day;
but falling, he received, as is believed, higher than earthly promotion, from the
Captain over all, under whose banner he had enlisted,
35




274           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
charged alone at a peculiarly exposed point, and sustained heavy loss,
amounting in all to some sixty-five in killed and wounded. From
this time forward until the appearance of the army before Petersburg, the regiment was constantly on duty, responding cheerfully
to all demands upon it, and on all occasions' acquitting itself with
eminent credit.
Transferred with the First Brigade to the Shenandoah Valley,
the Tenth was there, too, found equal to every emergency.  On the
15th of August, it participated in a. sharp picket skirmish near
Strasburg, and two days after took part in the battle of Winchester,
assisting (with the rest of the brigade) to hold the whole of Early's
army in check for a period of six hours. In this engagement, the
Tenth was formed on the left of the Fourth Regiment, and held its
position until heavily overlapped by the enemy on the left, and
even then, with its ammunition exhausted, stood firm, after a part
of the brigade-right wing-had retired.  From  some cause, inexplicable to those most vitally concerned, no order was sent to the
regiment to withdraw, and the result necessarily was, that holding
on from  moment to moment, fighting and waiting, it was gradually surrounded, so that when at last the attempt was made to fall
back, it only fell into the snare set for it. The regiment not only
lost considerably in killed and wounded, but also in prisoners,
Colonel Tay being again captured with one hundred and fifteen
men of the brigade-mainly of the left wing. At the close of this
affair, the Tenth, which crossed the Rapidan in May with six hundred men, had only eighty men left for duty-a fact which exhibits
more forcibly than any words the severity of the experience which
it had been called upon to undergo.
In the subsequent battles in the Valley, the regiment, feeble as it
was, bravely maintained its reputation.  During the winter of
1864-5, having with the brigade rejoined the army before Petersburg, and being largely recruited, it participated in the various
movements which resulted so detrimentally to the enemy, and in
the grand assault of the 2d of April, rendered distinguished service.  When the rebel flag went down at Appomattox, it turned its
face homeward, reaching the vicinity of Washington, four hundred




THE TENTH REGIMENT.                     275
and fifty strong, on the 2d of June. Thence, some weeks after, it
proceeded to Trenton, and was in due time discharged. Its record,
from the day that it took the field, was one of sublime devotion to
the work in which the nation was engaged, and in the legends and
chronicles of the firesides to which its survivors came back scarred
and laureled, its deeds will live for long years to come.




CHAPTER IX.
ELEVENTH REGIMENT.
THE  Eleventh  Regiment, of which  Robert McAllister was
appointed Colonel on the 30th of June, 1862, left Trenton on the
25th of August following, and reported at Washington on the 26th,
at noon. It was at once sent into Virginia, by order of General
Casey, and performed various duties in that department until
November 16th, when it was attached to the brigade of BrigadierGeneral Carr, (General Sickles' Division,) at Fairfax Court House.
Two days subsequently, it took  up its march for Falmouth,'
where it arrived on the 27th, having forded the Occoquan River,
and suffered'many hardships, owing to the prevalent rains, on the
march.  On the 9th of December, General Burnside having completed his plans for an assault upon the enemy in the rear of
Fredericksburg, the regiment received orders to prepare for service,
and, on the morning of the 11th, moved from camp to a position
on a hill overlooking Fredericksburg.  Meantime, pontoons had
been thrown across the river, and a lodgment had been effected in
the city.  On the morning of the 12th, the regiment was ordered
to move down, by a circuitous route, to the river bank for the
purpose of guarding the pontoon bridge at General Franklin's
crossing, where it remained until the 14th. The general attack
on the enemy, stretched along and behind the southern bluffs of
the Rappahannock for a distance of four or five miles, was made
on the 13th. Rebel guns, posted on the eminence, raked every
foot of ground by which the assailants could advance, and bravely
1 Owing to the exposure and difficult duty to which the regiment had been, up to
this time, exposed, a great deal of sickness prevailed among the men, and when orders
were received for this advance, some two hundred were unfit for duty. There had
already been twelve deaths.




THE ELEVENTH  REGIMENT.                         277
as our veterans fought, they but dashed themselves in vain against
an impregnable position.   The slaughter was pitiless, terrible; the
courageous columns, pressing up the slopes with eager step, were
shattered and broken by the fire of three hundred tireless guns;
and though stubbornly maintaining the conflict until night closed
the scene, not a foot of ground had been gained, and heaps of
dead and dying alone attested the gallantry which, in the very face
of death and disaster, serenely and proudly held its own.
On the morning of the 14th, the Eleventh  crossed the river,
under orders of General Carr, and took position in the second line
of battle, being shortly afterwards sent forward to the front line to
relieve the Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania Regiment-two companies
being dispatched to take the place of the pickets of the regiment
thus relieved. These companies, with others that were afterwards
sent in under a galling picket fire, behaved with the greatest
steadiness.  While thus engaged, the regiment sustained a loss of
two enlisted men killed, four wounded and six missing.  On the
15th, the regiment re-crossed the river to its old position, and soon
after returned to its former camp near Falmouth-General Burnside having wisely abandoned, upon the remonstrance of General
Sumner and others, all thought of a second assault, and directed
the withdrawal of the entire army  from  the  south  side of the
river. 
2 " HEADQUARTERS ELEVENTH NEW JERSEY VOLUNTEERS, 
CAMP NEAR FALMOUTH, VIRGINIA, December 23, 1862.
"It is with feelings of pride that I congratulate you on your bearing during all our
hard marches in this campaign, and particularly upon the bravery and gallantry you
displayed on the field of battle, before the heights of Fredericksburgh.
"I would say to those of you who went in under that galling picket-fire, when the eyes
of thousands of our comrades were upon you, and like old veterans, stood the raging
storm of battle, not only holding, but gaining ground; I would say, you deserve my
warmest praise.
" We sorrow over the remains of the gallant dead who fell by our side, and sympathize
with their loved ones at home, trusting that God will bear them up in their bereavement.
"We have before us the consoling fact that they died as brave soldiers, fighting for
their country, and that those of our day, and posterity, will do them justice.
" To the wounded I would say, bear up under your affliction with the cherished hope
that in the providence of God you will soon be able to join us, and assist in more successful encounters to put down this rebellion, and restore peace to our land.
"R. MCALLISTER,
"Colonel Commanding Regiment."




278                NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
The regiment remained in camp-having, however, changed its
position  to "Fitzhugh  Farm," some  two  and a half miles from
Falmouth-until February 5th, when  it accompanied  the division
on a reconnoissance, in the direction of the Orange and Alexandria
Railroad, the march being one of great hardship, a storm of snow
and rain prevailing during almost the entire time, while the men were
without tents or any means of shelter.  In this expedition, several
bridges were destroyed, and the regiment was warmly complimented
for the manner in which it performed the work assigned it.  During
the winter, the efficiency of the regiment was increased by drills
and by careful instruction of the officers in their duties-schools
of the captains and the lieutenants, as well as the non-commissione d
officers, being established and maintained by the Colonel. The
regiment, too, took a lively interest in the political questions then
occupying the attention of the people, and at a meeting held early
in March, at which the utmost enthusiasm  was manifested, bonfires
being kindled and speeches made in honor of the event, a series of
patriotic resolutions were adopted, and being signed by the officers,
were forwarded to the Governor as expressing the hostility of the
regiment to any attempt to distract public sentiment by untimely
partizan clamors for a dishonorable peace." On the 20th of April,
3 The following arc the resolutions referred to:
WHEREAS, The Legislature of our native State, a State hallowed by the remembrance
of the battles of Princeton, Trenton, and Monmouth; fields stained by the blood of our
forefathers in the establishment of our Government, has sought to tarnish its high honor
and bring upon it disgrace, by the passage of resolutions, tending to a dishonorable
peace with armed rebels; seeking to destroy our great and beneficent Government; the
best ever designed for the happiness of the many; and
WHEREAS, We, her sons, members of the Eleventh Regiment New Jersey Volunteers;
citizens representing every section of the State, have left our homes, to endure the
fatigues, privations and dangers, incident to a soldier's life, in order to maintain our
Republic in its integrity, willing to sacrifice our lives to that object, fully recognizing
the impropriety of a soldier's discussion of the legislative functions of the State; yet
deeming it due to ourselves that the voice of those who offer their all in their country's
cause be heard, when weak and -wicked men seek its dishonor; therefore,
Resolved, That the union of the States is the only guarantee for the preservation of
our liberty and independence; and that the war for the maintenance of that Union
commands now, as it has done, our best efforts and most heartfelt sympathy.
Resolved, That we consider the passage, or even the introduction of the so-called
"Peace Resolutions, as wicked, weak, and cowardly, tending to aid by their sympathy,
the rebels seeking to destroy the Republic.
Resolved, That we regard as traitors alike, the foe in arms, and the secret enemies of




THE ELEVENTH  REGIMENT.                            279
the  regiment was visited  by Governor Parker, and a review  of
the division to which the regiment was attached, was had in his
honor.
On the 21st of January, Burnside having asked to be relieved
very soon after his failure at Fredericksburg, General Hooker had
assumed command of the Army of the Potomac, and for two months
employed all his influence and authority to improve the discipline,
perfect the organization and elevate the spirit of his men. By the
our Government, who at home foment disaffection, and strive to destroy confidence in
our legally chosen rulers.
Resolved, That the reports, spread broadcast throughout the North, by sympathizing
prints and voices, that the army, of which we esteem it a high honor to form a part, is
demoralized, and clamorous for peace on any terms, are the lying utterances of traitorous tongues, and do base injustice to our noble comrades who have never faltered in
the great work; and are not only willing, but anxious to follow the gallant and chivalric leader against the stronghold of the enemy.
Resolved, That we put forth every effort, endure every fatigue, shrink from no danger; until under the gracious guidance of a kind Providence, every armed rebel shall be
conquered, and traitors at home shall quake with fear as the grand emblem of our National Independence shall assert its power from North to South, and crush beneath its
powerful folds, all who dare to assail its honor, doubly hallowed by the memory of the
patriot dead.
(Signed,)
Robert McAllister, Colonel Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
Stephen Moore, Lieutenant-Colonel Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
John Schoonover, Adjutant Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
Garret Schenck, Quartermaster Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
E. Byington, Assistant-Surgeon Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
G. Ribble, Second Assistant-Surgeon Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
F. Knighton, Chaplain Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
Luther Martin, Captain Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
John T. Hill, Captain Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
William H. Meeker, Captain Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
Thomas J. Halsey, Captain Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
Philip J. Kearney, Captain Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
William B. Dunning, Captain Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
S. M. Layton, Lieutenant Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
Ira W. Corey, Lieutenant Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
Lott Bloomfield, Lieutenant Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
A. H. Ackerman, Lieutenant Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
Edward S. E. Newbury, Lieutenant Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
John Oldershaw, Lieutenant Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
W. H. Lloyd, Lieutenant Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
Milton S. Lawrence, Lieutenant Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
E. T. Kennedy, Lieutenant Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
S. W. Volk, Lieutenant Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
Samuel T. Sleeper, Lieutenant Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
Edwin R. Good, Lieutenant Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
John Sowter, Lieutenant Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
Alexander Beach, Jr., Lieutenant Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.




280           NEW SJE1REY AND THE REB3ELLION.
10th of April, he had so increased the efficiency of the army, and
circumstances had become so generally favorable, that he determined
upon again assuming the offensive, and accordingly, on the 13th,
General Stoneman was dispatched with a large force of cavalry to
initiate his movement against the enemy. Lee still remained at
Fredericksburg, but his position could be turned, and this General
Hooker proposed to do. On the 27th, orders were issued for a
movement of the infantry and artillery, and on the following day,
the Eleventh Regiment, then attached to the First Brigade, Second
Division, Third Corps, left its camp and moved up the river, silently
but rapidly, to the United States Ford of the Rappahannock, crossing
at noon on May 1st, and thence to Chancellorsville, halting that
night near the headquarters of General Hooker. Meanwhile, the
enemy had hurried up from Fredericksburg in strong force, and
had taken position at a convenient point, whence on Saturday, May
2d, he opened on our left, gradually, however, shifting his forces to
the right. At this time, the Third Corps was posted in reserve near
our center. About sunset, the enemy having moved his lines,
suddenly pounced with terrible power upon our right, sweeping
the Eleventh Corps completely from the field, and leaving the
Third critically exposed, the woods in its front being full of rebels,
while the cavalry at that point, upon which General Sickles (commanding the corps) had relied, was lamentably weak. But that
brave officer was equal to the occasion, and promptly advanced his
men into the breach. The Second Division, with Hooker, Sickles
and Barry riding at its head, moved at a double-quick to the rescue,
the men cheering loudly as they swept through the disordered ranks
of the panic-stricken Eleventh (Corps,) and fell into line of battle
right and left of the plank road, of which the enemy had so far
maintained a tenacious hold. Soon the order to charge was given,
and the men with a shout rushed, amid the booming of cannon
and crackle of musketry, upon the rebels, slowly driving them
from the ground lost by Howard in the morning, and recovering
several abandoned guns and caissons. But though beaten, the
enemy did not withdraw  out of range. Repeatedly during the
night, he renewed the contest-once massing in great force in our




THE ELEVENTI- REGIMENT.                   281
immediate front in a determined effort to break our lines, but being
again repulsed with great slaughter.  At a later hour, being reinforced, he  once more advanced to the assault, pressing with
impetuous daring against our lines, but again our batteries, playing
over the heads of our infantry far into the massed columns of the
foe, compelled him to retire with terrible loss. In both of these
combats, the fighting was of the most desperate character, and the
scene, as the flash of the heavy guns flamed out upon the gloom  of
the solemn wood, and the flying missiles crashed and screamed
among the trees, carrying a cloud of branches before the terrible
storm, was grand and almost fearful in its sublimity.
Towards daybreak, under orders from General Carr, the Eleventh
formed in line of battle, with its left resting on the plank road,
and the line at right angles with it, the Eleventh Massachusetts
taking position on the right. Immediately in front of the Eleventh
New Jersey, on the first line of battle, with its left resting on the
road, was the First Massachusetts Regiment; while on the left, on
the road, was Osborn's Battery, forming a rear line. The Second
New Jersey Brigade, commanded by General Mott, was stationed
on the left of the road. In the rear of this brigade were a number
of batteries, occupying an elevation which enabled them  to fire
over the infantry.  All these batteries soon  became  actively
engaged, and did fearful execution in the ranks of the enemy.
As dawn approached, it became evident that another desperate
contest was at hand, and very soon, the enemy, once more in
massed columns, advanced to the charge, and for two terrible hours,
the contending hosts fought with unexampled desperation for the
coveted position.  At last, the left wing of the First Massachusetts,
on the advanced line, gave way.  Soon after, the enemy was
discovered on the flank of the Eleventh, which wheeled into line
for a charge. Subsequently, however, an assault caused its right
wing to fall back, but the men were rallied, and the regiment
stoutly held its position, forming a connecting link between the
third line and the battery on the road, as well as with Mott's
Brigade.  Up to this time, therefore, the progress of the rebels'he regiment was now on the second line of battle.
36




282             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLON.
had been checked, being repulsed in every charge. But, vastly
outnumbered  and surrounded on three sides by the enemy, our
right gave way, and the position of the Eleventh became one of
imminent danger.  The line in its rear had retired, the horses in
the protecting battery had been shot down, compelling the cannoneers to haul off their pieces by hand; the Second New Jersey
Brigade was falling back, General Berry and  other brave and
valuable officers had been killed, and there was no alternative but
to retire.  But even then the men were reluctant to go.  Retiring slowly across the road, delivering a steady fire as they went,
they presently united with other Jersey troops, and then, in a grand
burst of enthusiasm, charged upon  the pursuing rebels, driving
them from the cannon-pits just wrested from us.  These, however,
could not be held, and the regiment slowly retired to another. line
of defense near the Headquarter's House, where it acted, for a time,
as a support to the artillery.  At this point, three men in one
company  were  killed  by  a  shot from  the enemy.   General
Sickles here, as during the previous night, was at all times in the
thickest of the fight. Colonel McAllister, upon reaching headquarters, said to him:  "Here I am  with the remainder of my
regiment; where my brigade is, I cannot tell."  The General
replied:  "Fall into this line without reference to organizationsyou are all my men; we must hold this line if every man of us
should fall."  During all this time the battle raged without intermission.  Many of our troops, exhausted by hours of fighting, fell
prostrate to the ground; others, weary and faint, moved here and
there along the line, encouraging as best they could the dispirited
men, while others still less courageous, huddled  in convenient
nooks, or crept from the field, in search of some place of safety.5
5 A letter of an officer referring to this part of the cngagement, says:
"About this time an officer rode up to the Colonel and said: "Detail ten men, and
send them to me to carry ammunition." The Colonel was making the detail, when the
officer returned and said: "Don't take your men, they arc in line and doing their duty;
take those men who are doing nothing," pointing to a number of men at the end of an
old outbuilding close by. The Colonel walked up to them and gave them the order to
go for ammunition. Three of them obeyed; the others hesitated. The Colonel said,
"You must obey the order." They still held back. At that moment, a ball passed
clear through the building, right into the squad, killing several, and wounding others.
Those who escaped did not need to be told another time."




THE ELEVENTH REGIMENT.                          283
It soon became apparent that the line could not be held, but
fresh froops coming up and forming in the rear, the progress of the
enemy was stayed for a time. The Eleventh reaching its brigade,
took position behind a fortified line, where it remained, having
several lines in its front, until the following day, the enemy having
abandoned his attempt in that part of the field, or rather failed
to pursue.  The Eleventh had lost heavily-twenty killed and one
hundred and thirteen wounded-but its heroic deeds had made it
a name  which would  be imperishable, and that thought lent a
halo even to the hour of disaster.  The corps had sustained the
whole weight of Stonewall Jackson's force, had repelled five fierce
charges, mainly with the  bayonet, had captured eight flags, (all
taken by the New Jersey troops,) had taken many prisoners without
losing any; and it was not without reason that the officers and men
of the Eleventh, having shared in these achievements, felt that to
them, in fact, belonged the honor of having saved the army in one
of the most desperate and terrible battles of the war."
The gallant deeds of that day-the acts of heroism  performed
by officers and private: alike-will never be fully told, but they
were such as to illuminate for all time the story of Chancellorsville
and its loss. There, as elsewhere, the loyal old Commonwealth of
Massachusetts had sons worthy of their lineage.  Captain Gammon,
of the Eleventh Regiment of that State, after his regiment had
been broken to pieces by the heavy assaults of the enemy, went
to Colonel McAllister and said:  "I am here with eight men and
would like to fight with you." Their services were accepted, and
taking position in the ranks of the Eleventh, these nine men fought
like lions to the close of the combat, winning the heartiest applause
of all their heroic comrades.
Colonel McAllister, Adjutant Schoonover alid Lieutenant Colonel Moore were
among the last to leace the field, and at one time, fighting alone, were almost surrounded
by the enemy. As to the general bearing and audacity of the regiment, in the very
face of disaster, a letter written at the time says:   When the regiments of our brigade were forming, away back in the rear, some officer asked for the Eleventh New
Jersey; another officer replied, "01h, they are fighting on their own hook, and still
hard at it with the rebels." The same letter refers to the fact that by holding its position, and fighting desperately against odds, the Eleventh saved the Second New Jersey
Brigade from being flanked, and enabled the Fifth Regiment of that Brigade to take the
colors, whose capture gave them so much distinction.




284               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
The enemy being now repulsed, our troops commenced the erection of breastworks, but they were not destined to be of much service.  General Sedgwick, who, with  the Sixth  Corps, had been
expected to cross at Fredericksburg and advance against Lee's rear
at Chancellorsville, had, indeed, crossed and advanced some miles
on his way, but his progress was then suddenly arrested by  an
overwhelming force of the enemy, and he was pushed  over the
river with heavy loss, thus again leaving the main army exposed
to the enemy's assaults.  But Lee, by this time, was in no condition
to fight another battle. He had sustained a loss of fifteen thousand
men, had lost heavily in material, and his troops were even more
exhausted, owing to their heavy marches, than our own. Beyond,
therefore, spurts of picket-firing, there was no further fighting
between the hostile armies. Hooker, unaccountably as it appeared
to many, determined to withdraw and re-cross the Rappahannock,
and this was done on the night of the 5th.  During Monday, the
Eleventh, while on picket-duty, had twenty-three men wounded,
having been exposed to a heavy fire of grape and canister from  a
battery of the enemy.  Subsequently, late at night, an attack was
made on their picket-line, but was easily repulsed. On Tuesday
night, the retrograde movement having commenced, the regiment
was withdrawn from its position, and marching to the river, crossed
and proceeded directly to its old camp, where it found rest from
the labors of the fruitless campaign.'
7 The following is Colonel McAllister's report of this battle, as rendered to the Adjutant-General of the State:
" I have the honor to report to you the movements of my command, as connected
with the First Brigade, Second Division, Third Corps, during the recent battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. The regiment numbering five hundred men, left camp with the
corps, on the afternoon of April 28th, and marched towards the river, at a point two
miles south of Fredericksburg, and halted within a mile of the place where General
Burnside crossed the left wing of his command. At ten o'clock, p. m., April 30th, he
moved by a circuitous route up the river, and bivouacked at eleven p. m., within four
miles of United States Ford, where we crossed the river at noon the next day; marched
two miles, and halted until late in the afternoon, when we moved to a point near General Hooker's Headquarters at the junction of the river and plank roads, where we
bivouacked for the night. During the forenoon of Saturday May 2d, the enemy shelled
the woods in which we were stationed. Our loss was one man badly wounded. In the
afternoon heavy firing was heard on our right, which gradually drew nearer, when our
corps was ordered up the road double-quick to check the advance of the enemy, who
was then driving General Ioward's Corps before him. We soon met our troops, who




THE ELEVENTH REGIMENT.                              285
The Eleventh remained at Fitzhugh Farm  until the 11th of June,
when orders were received by the entire army to prepare for an
were falling back in great confusion. After passing about a quarter of a mile beyond
General Hooker's Headquarters, our brigade filed into the woods on the right and
formed line of battle. The enemy made two attacks duringthe night, but did not force
our lines. With some changes at dawn of day, we awaited the attack of the enemy as
follows: On the right of the road, Eighteenth Massachusetts of our brigade, and the
Excelsior brigade of the division composed the first line, with my regiment on the
left with its left resting on the road. In our rear General Hays' Brigade of Couch's
Corps, formed a line in which was the Twelfth New Jersey. On the left of the road, the
Second New Jersey Brigade composed a line of battle in our advance. General Birney's
Division was posted in rear, and also on left of this line. The attack was made at half
past four, a. m., and increased in severity until eight and a half, a. m., when the line in
our front gave way; also, the regiments of our brigade on my right. I then changed
the front of the regiment slightly, and returned the fire of the enemy briskly. The
battle was now raging with great fierceness; many of the officers were wounded; two
had been killed; large numbers of our wounded men had gone to the rear, and both
flag-staffs had been completely severed by the bullets of the enemy. The enemy now
pressed my right so heavily, that I was compelled to change front, and form a line with
the Second New Jersey Brigade on my left, and General Hays' Brigade on my right.
We sustained this position for some time, losing heavily, when the line on our left gave
way, and we fell slowly back, under a withering fire of grape and canister. I formed
the regiment on the hill in rear of the battalions, and soon afterwards, with the corps
in that vicinity, charged across the fields towards our earthworks which the enemy had
just entered. They were driven out, and a large number of prisoners taken, mostly of
the Second New Jersey Brigade; our forces could hold it but a short time, when we fell
back with the remainder of the troops, and joined our brigade which had fallen back
some time before. With the brigade we came within the entrenchments. Our loss in
the engagement was twenty killed, one hundred and fifteen wounded and eleven missing. Two officers, Lieutenants Bloomfield and Kelly, Company B, were killed, and
ten wounded. Both men and officers of my Regiment acted nobly, stood well, and
fought well; to praise some, might do injustice to others; but I cannot pass without
personally mentioning Lieutenant-Colonel Moore, who was of great assistance, and acquittedhimself with honor; also, the heroic conduct of Captain Kearney and Adjutant
Schoonover, who were of incalculable advantage in leading and bringing the men forward. The color-bearer, Sergeant Albert DuPuget, displayed unusual coolness and
bravery. They all deserve promotion for meritorious conduct.
" On Monday afternoon, my regiment was placed in an exposed position, as a support
to Berdan's Sharpshooters, where the enemy opened upon us with grape and canister,
wounding twenty men, many of them severely. We were under a continued fire from
the enemy's sharpshooters, wounding three of our men Tuesday afternoon, making our
total loss twenty killed, one hundred andforty-eight wounded and eleven missing. Tuesday night, at two o'clock, we took up a line of march for the river, which we crossed
early in the morning. We did not reach our " old quarters" until six o'clock, p. m.,
the roads being very muddy, and marching hard. Our colors were unfit for service;
both staffs are completely severed, and badly shattered."
Lieutenant Lott Bloomfield, a young officer of great promise, was killed in the
early part of this battle, while nobly performing his duty in encouraging his men to
stand firm; and again urging them forward amidst the storm of battle, rendering valuable assistance in the great struggle of that day.
Lieuteuant-Colonel Schoonover, in a letter, dated at Buttahatchie, Lowndes County,
Mississippi, October 17, 1866, in reply to a note of inquiry, says: "I think the regiment
made one of its best fights at Chancellorsville, taking into consideration the mass of




286               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
immediate  movement.  General Lee, impelled  by  considerations
which he could not well resist, had determined upon a bold and
vigorous offensive policy, and had already commenced to mass his
forces on our right in the vicinity of Culpepper Court House.
Detachments  of  our troops, for purposes  of  observation, had
been  promptly dispatched by Hooker, and on the 9th, a severe
cavalry  engagement had  taken  place  at Beverly  Ford, on the
Rappahannock, resulting  in  the  enemy  being  pushed  back  to
Brandy Station.s  Our troops, however, not being properly supported, were obliged to re-cross, but it was now clear that the
entire rebel army was in that vicinity, and that it was tending  westward  towards the  Shenandoah  Valley.   Such a movement could have but one meaning, and  in  the conviction that a
blow was meditated on the line of the Potomac, Hooker ordered
his troops, as we have seen, to prepare for action. Breaking camp
on the 11th, the Eleventh (with the Third Corps,) marched by way
of Bealton and Warrenton Junction to Manassas Jnmction, reaching
that point at midnight on the 15th. Thence, it moved to Centreville, whence-the enemy having, meanwhile, invaded  Maryland
and Pennsylvania in force, and their cavalry advanced  as far as
fugitives it met from the Eleventh Corps while going into position; its coolness deserves special mention."
While all the officers of the Regiment behaved with the utmost gallantry, Captains
P. J. Kearney and William Lloyd are especially named for cool and uniform bravery, by
all who participated in the battle.
General Hooker, while visiting the hospital of the Eleventh, some days after the
battle, said to Doctor Welling, the Surgeon: "This is a gallant regiment; it fought
splendidly; officers and men alike deserve credit."  General Carr, who temporarily
succeeded to the command of the division, upon the death of General Berry, in a letter
to Adjutant-General of the State, under date of May 15, 1863, said: " * *'   The regiment greatly distinguished itself at the battle of Chancellorsville, and is one of which
the State of New Jersey has reason to feel proud, without a single exception, the
officers and men of this regiment acted in the most gallant and heroic manner, losing
one hundred and fifty-seven in killed and wounded.
A letter written by Gcneral Carr, on the 18th of May, to Adjutant-General Stockton,
has the following:
*-    * -  "By giving this matter your earliest attention, you will confer a great
favor upon Colonel McAllister and his command, a regiment which greatly distinguished itself at the battle of Chancellorsville, and of which the State of New Jersey
has reason to feel proud. Without a single exception the officers and men of this
regiment acted in the most gallant and heroic manner."
s A detailed account of this magnificent cavalry fight is given in the narrative of the
services of the first New Jersey Cavalry.




itE ELEVENTH  IEGIMENT.                           287
Chambersburg-it marched (early on the 25th,) to Edward's Ferry,
crossed the Potomac, and advanced to the Monocacy, where a part
of the regiment arrived shortly after midnight.  This was one of
the most rapid  and  fatiguing marches ever made by the divisiou
to which the Eleventh was attached, and many of the men fell out
by the way completely exhausted.  Early on the 26th, however,
the laggards came up, and the column advanced to Point of Rocks,
whence, after some delays, it hurried on to Taneytown, Maryland,
arriving there  on the 29tb.  The march  through Maryland had
been marked by the most cordial demonstrations of good will from
the inhabitants, and  the men, thus stimulated and encouraged,
moved  forward  with  renewed  vigor  and  elasticity  of  mind.
Resuming  its march, on the morning of July  1st the regiment
halted within about two miles of Gettysburg, where fighting had
already  commenced, Lee  having  concentrated  his  forces  and
deliberately prepared to deliver battle at that point. General
Hooker, meanwhile, had been relieved, and General Meade placed
9 A letter written at the time by one who participated in this march, says: " There
can be no doubt of the loyalty of the inhabitants of this part of Maryland. They receive
us with waving flags, and make every possible demonstration of joy at our approach,collecting at the forks of the roads, along the roadsides and in the villages, to cheer us
on our way. We seem to breathe a new atmosphere, and the men arc full of hope and
courage."
While in bivouac on the road leading from Taneytown to Gettysburg, an order was
received from General Meade, who had just assumed command of the army, which was
read to each regiment separately. A letter written by an officer a few hours after the
receipt of this order, says:
" The order says that the enemy are on the soil of Pennsylvania; a great battle must
be fought; if we are true to ourselves and our country it may be the turning point of
the war, and all may yet be well. Each regimental commander must address his men
after the reading of the order-urging them to stand firm, &c. The order was read to
Colonel Bodine's Regiment, which was beside us-the Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers-after which he appealed to his men to make a good fight, not only for our
country, but their own homes and firesides, for the soil of Pennsylvania was invaded,at the close of which three hearty cheers were given for Pennsylvania. The order was
then read to the Eleventh Regiment, after which the Colonel said to them:'Sons of
New Jersey, the hour of battle is at hand; the soil of Pennsylvania is the contested
field. We must stand shoulder to shoulder with her sons and drive the enemy from
her borders, cost what it may. Your past bright record is a guaranty to me that you
will not falter. In the dark days of the Revolution, when the gallant Jersey Blues
were fighting for liberty upon their own soil, their Pennsylvania brothers rushed to
their assistance and helped them triumph. We are now called on to do for Pennsylvania what she did for us. Now with hearts filled with a love of country and a firm reliance on God, let us go forward. Are you ready for the march and the fight?''Yes,
yes,' was the answer, with three hearty cheers."




288             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
in command of the Army of the Potomac.  Early on the morning
of the 2d, having been without food during the previous night, the
Third Corps was marched into position on the left of the line,
6pposite Longstreet's command, the First Brigade forming  in
column of regiments, the Eleventh in rear. At this time a heavy
fog hung over the field, and an ominous silence prevailed, which,
however, as the fog lifted, was broken by cannonading at different
points along the lines.  Meanwhile, Sickles, eager for a fight,
advanced his corps 1 to the crest of the hill on which he had been
ordered to take position-the right of the Eleventh resting on the
edge of an apple-orchard, opposite a small farm-house and garden.
This position of the corps was commanded by the rebel batteries
posted on Seminary Ridge in its front, scarcely half a mile distant, and its occupation seems to have been regarded as vital by
General Lee, who ordered Longstreet to attack Sickles with all his
might.  Soon the cannonading became general, and under cover
of the guns on the ridge, General Barksdale advanced in line of
battle to the assault of the menacing Third. Gradually our pickets
gave way, and soon came rushing in, followed by the elated rebels,
who at once took possession of the house and garden already
named.  Up to this time, the men of the Eleventh had not fired
a single shot, but as the enemy pressed forward upon our lines,
Colonel McAllister gave the order, and, at the same moment, fell
severely wounded by a Minie ball in his left leg, and a piece of
shell in the right foot.  He was carried to the rear, but the fire of
the regiment did not slacken. Still the enemy's infantry pressed
forward, and at length the corps was crushed back to the position
from  which it had advanced, Longstreet having  Round  Top,
apparently, within his grasp. But the struggle was not yet ended.
As Sickles was graduatly forced back, other troops were thrown in
on the enemy's front, and they in turn, after a desperate combat,
were repulsed with heavy loss, and our exhausted troops were left
10 "Sickles (who was very eager to fight, and seems to have suspected that Meade
was not,) had thrown forward his corps from half to three-quarters of a mile; so that,
instead of resting his right on Hancock and his left on Round Top, as he had been
directed to do, his advance was in fact across the Emmettsburg road and in the woods
beyond, in the immediate presence of half the rebel army."-Greeley's American Conflict.




THE ELEVENTH  REGIMENT.                            289
for a time unmolested.  No  part of the field was more fiercely
fought than this, and no regiment behaved with greater steadiness
than the Eleventh. In addition to the loss of its Colonel, Captains
Kearney, Martin. Logan and Ackerman were killed, and nearly all
the remaining officers were either severely or slightly wounded,
while the ranks had been terribly thinned by the fire of the enemy,
its losses being, commissioned officers, three killed and ten wounded;
enlisted  men, twenty-one  killed  and  one  hundred  and. twenty
wounded, making a total of one hundred and fifty-four."
1 The report of Adjutant Schoonover, covering that part of the engagement subsequent to the fall of Colonel McAllister, says:
"CAPTAIN: In continuation of the enclosed report of Colonel McAllister, I have
the honor to submit the following: A few minutes previous to the command'fire,'
spoken of in the accompanying report, Major Kearney, then standing near me, on the
left of the line, was struck by a Minnie ball and mortally wounded in the knee, and
immediately carried to the rear; at this moment, Battery K, United States Artillery,
then stationed a short distance to the left and front of the regiment, opened a rapid
fire. I then passed rapidly to the right of the regiment, in order to inform the Colonel
of the absence of the Major, and learned that he, too, had been wounded and taken to
the rear. I immediately notified Captain Martin, the senior officer present, that he
was in command of the regiment, and again passed to the left of the line, when an order
was received from Brigadier-General Carr, to slightly change the front by bringing the
left to the rear; this being executed, the entire regiment opened an effective fire upon
the advancing line of the enemy. At this point, word was conveyed to me that both
Captains Martin and Logan were wounded and being carried to the rear. A moment
later, and Captain Ackerman fell dead by my side. The two former were killed before
they reached a place of safety; and in justice to the memory of these three officers,
permit me to bear witness to their unexceptional good conduct. Ever to the front,
distinguished for personal bravery, they leave behind them a spotless record. By
this time, Captain Lloyd had also been wounded, and Captain Dunning being absent,
assisting the Colonel to the rear, I assumed command of the regiment. The fire of the
enemy at this time was perfectly terrific; men were falling on every side; it seemed
as if but a few minutes could elapse before the entire line would be shot down, yet
the galling fire was returned with equal vigor. Slowly and stubbornly the regiment
fell back, keeping up a continual fire upon the line of the enemy which was still
advancing, until more than one-half its number had been either killed or wounded.
Up to this time, both officers and men nobly did their duty, but the ranks becoming
so decimated, and mingled with wounded men, and the line in the rear, and
having a short time previous been struck  with a piece of shell in  the
breast, I found it impossible, under the circumstances, to longer keep the line
together.  At this time we neared the caissons, which were in line across the
field to the left, when I was struck a second time, with a buckshot, and being nearly
exhausted in my efforts to rally the men, and from the wound in my breast, was compelled to go to the rear. A portion of the regiment was rallied some distance to the
rear by Captain Lloyd-with the flag-and charged in line with the remainder of the
brigade to a point near that occupied during the hottest of the action. Remaining
there a short time, it marched some distance to the rear and bivouacked."
Major Kearney, who was mortally wounded in this battle, and afterwards died at Saint
Luke's Hospital, New York, was a young officer of more than ordinary daring. A
more patriotic, brave and gallant soldier never drew a sword in defence of a noble
37




290               NEW  JERSEY AND  THE REBELLIOt.
The night passed, and on the morning of the 3d, the battle was
renewed, the fighting being for a time chiefly on the right.  Adjutant Schoonover, though suffering from his wounds, rejoined the
Eleventh, and by request of the senior officer present for duty,
(Captain Sleeper,) again took command. Several officers and a
number of men, who  had been  collected during the night, also
appeared for duty.   Moving a short distance to the front, the regiment halted until three o'clock, when it was ordered cn a " doublequick," with the remainder of the brigade, on the road towards
Gettysburg. Proceeding nearly a mile, it was again halted and
formed in line of battle, in rear of the batteries occupying the
crest of the hill in front-the brigade being in column by regiments.  The regiment remained in this position  for nearly  two
hours under a heavy fire of shot and shell, having, however, but
one man wounded."  About five o'clock, the regiment returned to
its former position, where it remained until the morning of the 7th,
when, the enemy having retreated, it joined in the pursuit.'
On the 17th, the regiment re-crossed the Potomac at Harper's
Ferry, and on the 24th, took part in the engagement at Manassas
Gap, but suffered no casualties. Continuing the march from that
point, it arrived at Beverly Ford, on the Rappahannock, August
1st. On the 17th of September, it marched to Culpepper, where
Colonel McAllister, who had recovered from  his wounds, rejoined
it, and took command of the brigade, General Carr having been
cause. No danger was too great for him to brave, no obstacle too difficult for him to
overcome, if it was for the good of the cause and country.
12 The Adjutant commanding had his horse killed under him by a spherical case-shot,
during this engagement of the batteries.
13 In concluding his report of the two days' engagemcent, Adjutant Schoonover
thus refers to the conduct of both officers and men:
" To mention some may seem to do gross injustice to others, but I cannot pass by
the untiring efforts of Lieutenant Buckley to rally the men. Captain Lloyd and
Lieutenant Corey also deserve special mention for their coolness and bravery. As an
individual act of bravery I desire to mention Corporal Thomas Johnson, of Company
1, who, when two color-bearers had been shot down, I ordered to take the colors
and advance twenty yards to the front, as the regiment was then wavering. He did so,
and did not leave his position until ordered to the rear. The services of Lieutenant
Joseph C. Baldwin, on the 3d, as Acting-Adjutant were invaluable. In the action of
the 2d, the regiment sustained a very heavy loss. Out of the two hundred and seventyfive officers and men taken into the fight, eighteen were killed, one hundred and thirty
wounded, and six missing, making a total of one hundred and fifty-four."




THE ELEVENTH REGIMENT.                      291
assigned to the Third Division of the corps. At that time, the
brigade was composed of five regiments, two of Pennsylvania and
two of Massachusetts troops, in addition to the Eleventh-numbering in all some two thousand men. From this time forward until
the beginning of November, the regiment was engaged in the
marching and countermarching incident to the movement of the
two armies-denominated by the rebels, "The Races;" camping in
various places but participating in no important fight. On the
8th of November, the corps crossed the river at Kelly's Ford, and
engaged the enemy, who had there taken possession, taking a considerable number of prisoners. In this engagement, McAllister's
Brigade lost twelve men, and took three hundred prisoners. Advancing to Brandy Station, where Colonel McAllister relinquished
the command of the brigade, preparations were made for the Rapidan campaign, and on the 26th, the Eleventh moved with the
division to the river, which was crossed at Jacob's Ford, twenityfive men of this regiment being the first to reach the opposite
shore, under a feeble fire from a few rebel cavalrymen.  The next
day. the corps advanced towards Robertson's Tavern, on the Orange
Turnpike, encountering on the way a force of the enemy, who
offered battle.  The Eleventh was advanced to the front in face of
a rapid fire, and bravely held its position until the supports on
both the right and left gave way.  Even then, the men stood firmly,
holding the enemy in check until they had occupied the ground on
both flanks in force, when the order to retire was reluctantly
given."  The loss of the regiment in this engagement, (known as
Locust Grove,) was six killed, twenty wounded, two missing and
two taken prisoners. Lieutenant-Colonel Schoonover, Major Halsey
and Adjutant Beach were especially mentioned for their gallant
behavior during the fight, and the entire regiment carried itself
with great steadiness.'" On the 28th, the regiment remained inac1 In falling back, Johnson, the color-bearer, who distinguished himself at Gettysburg, on reaching an open space at a cross-roads, stopped, unfurled the flag, and waved
it for some time, defiantly, in the face of the enemy.
r5 In a letter dated December 14, 1863, Colonel McAllister thus refers to some of the
incidents of this engagement: "The dying message of Corporal Joseph H. Frazer,
of Newark, to his mother, was,'I die for my country.' He was a noble and brave




292            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
tive, merely advancing its position beyond Robertson's Tavern.
Here it was found that the enemy had taken position along the
west bank of Mine Run, facing eastward, and late in the evening
our forces were brought into line confronting him. The two following days were spent in reconnoissances and preparing for an assault,
when, it being concluded that the enemy's defences were too formidable to justify a general demonstration against them, a retreat
was ordered, and on the morning of the 2d of December, the
regiment moved with its division to Culpepper Ford, crossed on
pontoons, and on the 3d, went into camp near Brandy Station,
where it remained until May following.
During the winter, a deep religious feeling was awakened in the
regiment; prayer-meetings were held nightly, and as a result of the
interest, a little church was erected, in which to worship relieved
from the annoyances sometimes experienced in camp life.  A  temperance society was also formed; and there were many cases of conversion. This was at the time when a revival spirit seemed to pervade the army, and when even the most reckless and abandoned,
strongly moved by the silent influence of Gospel truth, found peace
and refuge in the consolations of that faith which strengthens the
stoutest arm, and makes even the weak invincible. The Chaplain of
the Eleventh, Rev. E. Clarke Cline, was peculiarly fitted for the duties of his position, and. as was not unfortunately always the case,
was cordially seconded by the regimental commander in all his efforts
for the improvement of the moral life of the command; from which
it followed that no regiment was, perhaps, more thoroughly permeated by religious feeling than this. Its religion, too, had a patriotic
element; one or more of the prayer-meetings, every week, being set
apart for special prayer for the country, and for the triumph of the
cause in the coming campaign. Nor were the families of the fallen
forgotten by those brave men at the front. The Corps established
a " Union," for the benevolent purpose of aiding the widows of those
man. Sergeant Smith, of Newark, who died on the field, shot through the head, was
no less brave, and was, moreover, a true Christian. Sergeant Smith's bosom companion, Corporal Blackwell, one of our praying members, was only saved by a Testament in his pocket, which arrested and held the ball."




THE ELEVENTH REGIMENT.                      293
who perished in the country's service, and hundreds of dollars were
raised and appropriated for the benefit of needy families which had
thus lost their natural protectors.
During the winter, the Third Corps was broken up, and the
Eleventh became identified with the First Brigade, Fourth Division,
Second Corps; the brigade consisting of the First and Sixteenth
Massachusetts and the Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania Regiment, with
the Second New  Jersey Brigade  and the Eleventh  Regiment.
General Mott was placed in charge of the division late in April, and
Colonel McAllister assumed command of the brigade, which he retained, with the exception of a brief period, until the close of the
war.
From this time forward, the history of the Eleventh is the history
of the Second New Jersey Brigade.  It shared in all the engagements in which that brigade participated, fully maintaining the high
reputation it had already achieved. In the terrible battle of Spottsylvania, and in the operations before Petersburg, it was ever conspicuous for bravery and all eminent soldierly qualities, never turning
its back from the foe, eager always to vindicate the honor of the
flag under which it fought. Upon the termination of hostilities, it
marched to Washington, and on the 15th of June, 1865, reached
Trenton, and there, as an organization, ceased to exist. Its ranks
on that fair summer day, as it marched down the beautiful streets
of the Capital, were thinned and lean, indeed, and many eyes looked
in vain for faces that once shone along its line; but the missing
ones had died for liberty and taw, and the nation will keep their
memories green, since by the heroic deeds of these, and all the tawny
home-coming host, the flag that on that day fluttered welcomes, is
still the symbol of a nationality unimpaired.
The following official report exhibits the part taken by the
Eleventh Regiment in the campaign from  the Rapidan to Petersburg:
"FIRST EPOCH.
" The Crossing of the Rapidan and the Battles of the Wilderness.
"At one o'clock, a. m., May 4th, the regiment left its winter-quarters near Brandy
Station, Virginia, and with the remainder of the brigade, made a rapid march to Ely's
Ford, on the Rapidan, which was crossed at eleven o'clock the same forenoon.
" At this point the regiment was detailed to guard the ammunition train, and con



294                NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
tinued in this duty until it reached the Chancellorsville battle-ground, where it joined
the brigade at a quarter-past three o'clock, p. im.
"Continued the march on the morning of May 5th, at five o'clock, a. m.; reached the
Brock road early in the afternoon, and at once threw up a temporary breastwork. At
four o'clock, p. m., the command was passed along the line,'By the right of companies
to the front,' which was repeated, and the regiment moved forward as directed. After
proceeding a very short distance through the dense underbrush, I was directed by the
Brigade Commander to form in line of battle, which I did, so far as circumstances
would permit. With the regiments on the right and left crowding, and in the midst
of an almost impassable underbrush, it was found impossible to form a line of battle,
in the space I occupied on the road. There was much confusion in the ranks till the
regiment reached the crest of the hill, when, by detailing the three left companies, I succeeded in placing the remainder of the regiment in proper line. As yet,
we had received no fire from the enemy, except an occasional shot from the skirmish
line, which was returned. We had been in this position but a short time, when a few
volleys of musketry were heard to the extreme left and rear, and immediately the line
on the left, as far as I could see, commenced falling back in confusion. This was
rapidly carried on to the right, and when the Sixteenth Massachusetts, which was on
my immediate left, took up the movement, my regiment followed, and all efforts to
rally the men were fruitless. The troops seemed panic-stricken, and for what reason
I was never able to imagine. They acted as if their only safety was the works which
they had so hastily erected. I desire to mention one exception. The Color Company
and color-guard, under command of Captain Kennedy, retained its position for some
time after the troops on my right and left had disappeared, and until he received a
direct order from me to fall back. The officers up n this occasion, so far as I could
see, made every effort to keep their men in line. The regiment was re-formed on the
road, and the report showed a list of twelve wounded.
"At half-past four o'clock, on the morning on the 6th, we again advanced in line of
battle through the woods. We continued to advance slowly until seven o'clock, a. m.,
when a heavy fire was opened by the regiments on my right and left, which was.taken
up for a short time by my regiment. I soon, however, succeeded in stopping it, as I
considered it perfectly useless, as we were at that time receiving no fire from the
enemy-neither was he in sight. The regiment continued to advance, with frequent
halts, until about nine o'clock, a. m., when we received a heavy volley from the
enemy. Advancing some distance further, the line was halted, a skirmish line thrown
out, and the regiment remained in this position until shots were received from our
left and rear, when a change of front was ordered by Colonel Sewell, then in command
of the Fifth, Sixth and Eleventh Regiments. This change of front took place about
half-past ten o'clock, a. m. At eleven, the enemy was heard advancing in our front,
with heavy firing and cheering; soon after, the troops composing the front line passed
over us in much confusion. I then passed along the whole length of my regiment,
and directed them to reserve their fire until they received orders. At this time there
were but few of the enemy's shots passing over us.
The approaching yell and loud firing gave us sufficient warning of the advance and
position of the enemy. In a few minutes, I directed the regiment to commence firing.
The regiment, with scarcely an exception, acted with perfect coolness. Not a man
flinched. There seemed to be a determination to retrieve what they had lost the day
previous. This fire was continued for some time, when the regiment on my immediate
left fell back. The one on my right followed. I turned to ask Colonel Sewell for
instructions, and I was told by one of my officers that he had gone to the rear with
the remainder of the line. At this time, an officer from the left of the regiment came
to me and said that Colonel Sewell had left orders for me to fall back. As no troops
were to be seen on either my right or left, I deemed it proper to do so. The regiment
retired to the Brock road, where it took position in rear of the second line of works
on the left of the Sixteenth Massachusetts. It remained in this position during the
afternoon, assisting in the repulse of the enemy at four o'clock, and also took part in




THE ELEVENTH  REGIMENT.                            295
the charge upon the first line of works which had been captured by the enemy, and from
which they were driven. At half-past four o'clock, p. m., May 7th, the regiment,
after moving to the right of the plank road, with the brigade, was detailed for picket,
where it remained until ten o'clock, a. m., the next day."
"SECOND EPOCH.
" The March to Spottsylvania Court.House, and the Operations in Front of that Place.
On Monday, May 8th, at ten o'clock, a. m., the regiment was drawn in from the
picket-line, and composed a portion of the rear-guard from the Wilderness to a point
near Todd's Tavern, where it joined the brigade early in the afternoon, and at once
commenced putting up breastworks. This work was continued until the afternoon of
the 9th, when we moved a short distance, and the regiment went into position near
Todd's Tavern.
"Moved forward the next morning at daylight, and about eight o'clock, a. m.,
reached a point near the Brown House, where we remained until five o'clock, p. m.,
when the regiment took position on the extreme left of the division, preparatory to an
advance. At half-past five o'clock, the regiment moved forward and was repulsed
when it reached the crest, commanded by the enemy's canister. I rallied a portion of
the regiment and with men from different regiments established a picket line. On the
afternoon of the 11th, an attempt was made to take a house occupied by the enemy's
pickets, but failed, as it was under the direct fire of the enemy's batteries. The regiment was relieved about six o'clock p. m., and joined the brigade about a mile to the
right. At nine and a half o'clock the same night moved back to a point near the
Brown House and went into position.' May 12th. In line at daylight. Soon after, the regiment having position on the
extreme right, advanced with the brigade to the front. At the moment of entering the
woods, Lieutenant Egan was killed by an unexploded shell.
"The regiment advanced steadily, crossed the first line of the enemy's works, and
reached our front line, then engaged with the enemy who occupied his second line.
The fire at this point was maintained but a short time, our whole line falling back to
the enemy's first line of works. The fire from these works was kept up for an hour or
more, when all that portion of the line on the right of the crest, where the heavy fire
continued during the day, fell back, and the enemy took possession of the works. A
portion of my regiment was carried back with this line. I remained with what men
I could collect, on the left of the line, which had been formed at right angles to the
breastworks. 1 continued in this position all day and part of the night, when I moved
a short distance to the rear with a few men and remained until the following morning,
when the regiment moved a short distance to the right and received ammunition.
Colonel McAllister assumed command to-day. During the forenoon moved up with
the brigade to the breastwork, and took position near the fighting point of the day
previous, where we remained during the night.
" May 15th. Moved off at daylight, and massed in the woods a mile to the left. At
ten o'elock a. m., the regiment moved up and took position in the breastworks, under
a severe fire from the enemy's sharpshooters. The same forenoon, between the hours
of eleven and twelve o'clock, the enemy completely enfiladed our line with one of his
batteries, killing Lieutenant Baldwin, who was struck on the head with an unexploded
shell.
"The regiment remained in this position until five o'clock, a. m., on the morning of
the 17th, when it moved half a mile to the rear and massed in the woods. At nine
o'clock, p. m., the same day, moved half a mile to the right and bivouacked.
"May 18th. Moved to the front at daylight this morning, and again entered the
works under a heavy shell fire. Nine o'clock p. mi, moved to the left and took position in the works near the place occupied on the 15th,
" May 19th. Marched off hurriedly at two and a half o'clock, p. m., and reached the
Anderson House early in the morning, where we remained until nearly dark, when we
marched rapidly to the right about two miles, and went into line of battle.




296               NEW  JERSEY  AND  THE REBELLION.
"May 20th. Four o'clock, a. m. Moved a short distance to the right and advanced
through the woods in line of battle, and at seven o'clock, a. m., reached our camp on the
Anderson Farm."
"THIRD EPOCH.
"The march to the North Anna, and the Operations on that River.
"May 21st. Resumed the march at twelve o'clock, midnight, moved rapialy and
crossed the Mattapony at four and a half o'clock, p. m., and bivouacked.
"May 22d. Moved a mile to the front at half past seven o'clock, a. m., and was
engaged the remaining portion of the day in putting up a secure breastwork.
" May 23d. Moved off at six o'clock, and reached Chesterfield Ford at four p. m.,
where, in accordance with orders from General Mott, I established a strong picket-line
covering this point. The regiment, with the remainder of the brigade picket was
relieved at dark, joined the brigade soon after, and marched to the left, reaching a
point above the railroad bridge at nine o'clock, p. m., where works were thrown up
during the night.
" May 24th. The regiment was employed this morning in strengthening the works,
and at half past eight o'clock, a. m., accompanied the brigade in a charge over the
North Anna, under a fearful fire from the enemy's batteries. The regiment went into
position on the crest of the hill beyond, and at once strengthened the works evacuated
by the enemy. New works were thrown up during the day and the following night, a
short distance further to the front. In the afternoon, moved forward to the front
works, where we remained until the night of the 26th, when we re-crossed the river at
half past twelve o'clock, a. m. Halted on the right of the railroad at half past one
o'clock, a. m., and bivouacked.
"FOURTH EPOCH.
"The March Across the Pamunkey, Including the Operations on the Tolopatomy and at
Coal Harbor.
"Friday, 27th. The regiment left its bivouac, near the railroad, early in the afternoon,
and marched rapidly until nine o'clock, when a halt was made until eleven o'clock,
when we again moved forward and bivouacked at one o'clock for the night.
" Saturday, 28th. Moved off early this morning, marched rapidly, and crossed the
Pamunkey, near Hanover town at five o'clock, p. m. Continued the march a mile
beyond, went into position, and threw up a secure line of work before ten o'clock at
night.
"Sunday, 29th. Resumed the march at five o'clock, a. m., reached the Tinsel House
at dark, threw up a rifle pit and bivouacked.
" Monday, 30th. The regiment formed part of a reconnoitering force sent out to
develop the enemy's lines, and went into position on an eminence near a branch of the
Tolopatomy.
Tuesday, 31st. The regiment, with a portion of the brigade, moved to the front in
the forenoon, crossed the valley and took position on the opposite height, and during
the day threw up three lines of works.
" June 1st. Re-crossed the valley at three o'clock, a. m., and went into position in
the works near the Overton House. The regiment was soon thereafter sent by General
Mott to picket the roads to the front and right. Continued in this position until halfpast nine o'clock, p. m., when the picket was assembled and the regiment joined the
brigade.
" June 2d. Marched shortly after daylight, and reached Coal Harbor at half-past
nine o'clock, a. m. In the afternoon moved three-quarters of a mile to the left and
massed.
" June 3d. In motion athalf-past four o'clock, a. m.; at five o'clock moved forward
on double-quick, and passed off by the right flank, having three men wounded by the
enemy's shell. In a few moments moved to the rear and massed. At this point the
regiment remained for a short time, when it moved with the brigade to the right,




THE ELEVENTH  REGIMENT.                            297
taking position on the left of General Crawford's Division, of the Ninth Corps, where
a heavy line of breastworks was thrown up during the day.
" June 4th. Moved back to the left in the afternoon, and massed in the woods,
where we remained until four o'clock, p. m., on the 5th, when the regiment accompanied the brigade to the left. Halted near our first line of works, where the regiment lay under a severe shell fire for half an hour or more. Resumed the march
through the woods at midnight, and went into position at two o'clock, a. m., at
Barker's Mills, and put up breastworks as usual. The regiment remained in this
position until the night of June 12th, nothing unusual occurring."
"FIFTH EPOCH.
"The Mlarch across the Chickahominy and the James, and the Operations in front of Petersburg up to the Assault on the Enemy's Position, July 30, 1864.
"Sunday, June 12th. The regiment left its position at Barker's Mills at ten o'clock,
p. m., and marching a short distance, halted for an hour or more, after which the
march was continued, the Chickahominy crossed at eleven o'clock, and a point near
Charles City Court House reached just before sunset.
"June 14th. Moved to the James River in the morning and crossed early in the
afternoon and bivouacked.
"June 15th. Moved off at eleven o'clock, a. m. The heat was extreme, and the men
suffered very much. A rapid march brought us to the outer defences of Petersburg
after midnight.
"June 16th. The regiment was engaged in throwing up a line of breastworks until
five o'clock, p. m., when it took its position on the extreme left of the second line, preparatory to an advance upon the enemy's works. Moved forward at half-past five o'clock.
Before the regiment got near the enemy's works, the first line disappeared and the
advance was continued until the enemy's line was in plain view and a heavy fire received.
The regiment at once commenced a rapid fire, which was kept up, with intervals, until
midnight. This I considered necessary, as the moment the fire ceased the enemy
would pour in a heavy volley and attempt an advance. The ammunition became
exhausted a number of times, many of the men firing over a hundred rounds. Our
wants were promptly supplied by the First Maine Heavy Artillery, which was in line a
short distance in our rear.
"I never saw men act with more steadiness and coolness, than did the regiment on
this occasion. Its loss was heavy, being nearly one-third of the number engaged.
" The regiment was relieved at daylight, and went back to the second line.
" The regiment remained in the works until the 21st, when it moved to the left, across
the Suffolk road. Halted at two o'clock, p. m., took the regiment on the skirmish line
and during the night established a picket line on the left of the Second Brigade where
it remained until the afternoon of the next day, when it was compelled to retire to the
breastworks, being completely turned by the enemy's advance. Remained in camp in
rear of the works until July 12th, when, in accordance with orders from Brigade Headquarters, the works were destroyed and the regiment moved a mile to the rear and
halted near the Jerusalem plank road, where it remained until the forenoon of the
13th, (except a portion of the time which was consumed in leveling works,) when it
marched to its present camp. Remained in camp until the evening of July 28th, when
the regiment accompanied the brigade in a march across the Appomattox and James
to Deep Bottom. Halted shortly after daylight and went into position. Moved during
the day a short distance to the left, where we remained until the night of July 27th,
when we returned, halting in rear of the Eighteenth Corps, a little before daylight."
[So much of the above report as covers the operations from May 12th to June 17th,
is General McAllister's, who commanded the regiment during that time. The remainder
of the report is Lieutenant-Colonel Schoonover's.]
Lieutenant-Colonel Schoonover, in closing his notes of the regimental experience,
as supplied to the writer, says:
"Among individual acts of bravery, I desire to mention that of Captain Kearney at
38




298               NEW  JERSEY  AND  THE REBELLION.
Chancellorsville, who kept up the fight with a few men until nearly surrounded by the
enemy.
"On the night of the 5th of November, 1864, when the picket line in front of Petersburg had been driven in by the enemy, Captain Gage made a personal reconnoissance
previous to re-capturing the line, and actually went up to the same pit occupied by
the enemy, and barely made his escape amidst a shower of bullets.
"Sergeant Lauterman, of Company H, I considered one of the bravest men in the
regiment. At Chancellorsville, after the two lines had been hotly engaged for some
time, he went directly to the front and ascertained the enemy's position. His bravery
was the coolest I ever witnessed. He was killed at Spottsylvania, May 12th.
"At Gettysburg, Sergeant Johnson, color-bearer, when the line was falling back
in the midst of a galling fire, was ordered to advance twenty yards to the front with
his colors and remain there until ordered to the rear. The line continued to fall back,
but Sergeant Johnson remained like a statue until ordered back into position.
" While it may not be proper for me to speak of a superior officer, I, nevertheless,
feel it a duty to draw some attention to the services of General McAllister. No officer
from New Jersey performed more honest and faithful duty than he. His bravery was
always cool, and he was always found at the post of danger.  He was severely
wounded at Gettysburg, and had two horses shot under him in the battles of the
Wilderness. His service at the Boydton plank road, for which he was brevetted
Brigadier-General, has become a matter of history. At this time he was under command
of Brigadier-General Egan. One of his chief virtues as an officer was his ceaseless
vigilance. He was never surprised. At the battle of Hatcher's Run, February 5, 1865,
he particularly distinguished himself, repulsing with his brigade two rebel divisions.
During the hottest of the engagement he rode back and forth along the lines, encouraging the men."
SKETCH OF COLONEL SCHOONOVER.
John Schoonover joined the First New Jersey Regiment at its organization as a
private, and served with the knapsack and musket for about a year, being subsequently
made Commissary-Sergeant, in which position he remained until the Eleventh Regiment was raised, when he was made its Adjutant, serving with marked credit in all the
campaigns of the regiment prior to the battle of Gettysburg. He was especially recommended by General Carr for gallant conduct in that battle, at which, Colonel McAllister
being wounded, he assumed command of the regiment, which he retained until the
17th of September following. He was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment in
August, 1863, and served, most of the time in command, in all the subsequent campaigns of the Army of the Potomac. He was brevetted Colonel for gallantry in action
before Petersburg, and also for meritorious conduct in the campaign ending in the
surrender of Lee's army. He was three times wounded-at Gettysburg, Spottsylvania
and Cold Harbor. Colonel Schooncver was, under all circumstances, a courageous and
efficient soldier and commander, and was highly esteemed by all who knew him, not
only for his soldierly qualities, but for his exalted character and genuine worth as a man.
Chaplain Cline says of Colonel Schoonover: " He ever showed himself to be a man
of rare excellence, of great firmness and energy, of a dauntless courage which never
calculated danger when a duty was to be performed, a high sense of right and unflinching adherence to its obligations, with intellectual endowments of a superior order, and
social qualities which won the affection and admiration of all his associates. Kindhearted to his command, never exacting from  them  any unnecessary work, and
always ready to do everything in his power for their comfort and happiness, he was
universally beloved and honored, and there was scarcely one who would not gladly have
given his life, if needs be, to save his. (I speak mostly of the old men of the regiment, and not the late substitutes.) But let it not be thought the Colonel had no control of the men. Brave himself and ever in the front of the battle, he took them there;
and in camp, his regiment was in the highest state of discipline and order."




CHAPTER X.
THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.
THE Twelfth Regiment was raised under the second  call of the
President for three hundred thousand men, Robert C. Johnson, of
Salem, formerly Major of the Fourth Regiment, (three months'
men,) being commissioned as Colonel early in July, 1862. Woodbury, in Gloucester County, was selected as the rendezvous; and
on the 25th of July, the first detachment of recruits was mustered
into the State service and went into camp. By the second week in
August, nearly all the companies were full, and on the 4th of September, the regiment was formally mustered into the service of the
United States with about nine hundred and fifty men.1   Many of
the officers had already seen service in other regiments, but comparatively few of the men were familiar with military duties or re1 The men were all recruited in the First Congressional District, except two companies from Burlington County. There were two companies from Burlington County,
one from Gloucester, one from Cumberland, and the remainder from Camden and
Burlington. Captain J. Howard Willetts, of Cumberland, formerly of the Seventh
New Jersey Regiment, who had greatly distinguished himself in the Peninsular
campaign, was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, and Thomas H. Davis, of Camden, of the
Fourth (three months') Regiment, was appointed Major. Dr. Alvin Satterthwait,
was made Surgeon, and the company officers were as follows:
Company A-Captain, S. S. Chase; First Lieutenant, Josiah Franklin; Second Lieutenant, Ellis P. Phipps. Company B-Captain, Joel W. Cliff; First Lieutenant, B. F.
Lee; Second Lieutenant, -    Wilson.  Company C-Captain, W. H. Scholey; First
Lieutenant, Newton M. Brooks; Second Lieutenant, T. F. Harris. Company D-Captain, William Henry Moore; First Lieutenant, John W. Paris; Second Lieutenant, James
McIllhenny. Company E —Captain, C. K. Horsfall; First Lieutenant, P. M. Armington;
Second Lieutenant, James McCoomb.  Company  — Captain, E. L. Stratton; First
Lieutenant, J. J. Trimble;:Second Lieutenant, Joseph Pierson. Company G-Captain,
S. B. Jobes; First Lieutenant, James T. Lowe; Second Lieutenant, Charles E. Troutman.  Company Hf-Captain, H. A. Mattison; First Lieutenant, Joshua Lippincott;
Second Lieutenant, John M. Fogg.  Company I-Captain, Henry F. Chew; First
Lieutenant, Frank M. Acton; Second Lieutenant, Theodore F. Null. Company KCaptain, R. S. Thompson; First Lieutenant, Daniel Dare; Second Lieutenant, William
E. Potter.




300            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
quirements, though all entered cheerfully upon the work of preparing for the duties before them.  On the 7th of September, the
regiment left the State for Washington, but at Baltimore was diverted from its course by General Wool, commanding that district,
who ordered it to proceed to Ellicott's Mills, the county-seat of
Howard County, Maryland, and fifteen miles from  Baltimore on
the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.  This place was
reached on the evening of the 8th, and a camp was at once established on an elevation just out of town. The country at that point
is undulating, with the Patapsco River flowing on its winding way
past the town towards the Chesapeake Bay, and the camp of the
Twelfth was surrounded on all sides by scenery of the loveliest
description. On the night of the 9th, one company was ordered to
a small town, some two and a half miles from the camp, for the
purpose of guarding a bridge at the railroad crossing, and here the
first actual duties of the regiment were performed, the bridge in
question being regularly guarded from that time forward.  At this
time, the second battle of Bull Run had just been fought, and the
enemy was moving into Maryland, the Army of the Potomac
marching in pursuit, while the reserve and newly-recruited forces
were being sent by rail, with all possible despatch, to the scene of
conflict, which, a few days later, proved to be at South Mountain.
Some days after the battle at this point, a detachment of the Twelftt
was sent to Monocacy Junction to escort the paroled Union troops,
who had been so basely betrayed by General Miles, to Annapolis,
Maryland, and the country being now infested with rebel spies and
skulkers from our army, pickets were, at the same time, established
on all the main roads for some miles from the camp, with a view of
arresting all suspicious characters. During the three months that
the regiment remained at this place, some one thousand five hundred prisoners, thus arrested by the pickets, were brought in, and,
with the evidence justifying their detention, were sent to Baltimore
and Fort McHenry.
From this time-the termination of the rebel invasion-until the
6th of December, the Twelfth remained unemployed, except in camp
and picket duty, and the construction of winter quarters.  In these




THE TWELTFH REGIMENT.                  801
a comfortable sojourn was anticipated, but the expectation was
doomed to disappointment.  On the day named, the regiment received marching orders, and four days later started for Washington
by rail, reaching that city on the following afternoon. Here the
men were supplied with the Springfield (smooth bore) muskets, in
exchange for the Austrian rifles heretofore carried, and on the 13th,
coming into Maryland, the command resumed its advance, marching
over difficult roads, and exposed to a pelting storm, to Liverpool
Point, where, on the 17th, it crossed to Aquia Creek, near which it
encamped, and encountered for the first time the really distressing
scenes of war. The battle of Fredericksburg had just been fought
and lost by Burnside, and the wounded and dying were coming by
hundreds from the bloody field, the pale faces of the one, and the
agonizing cries of the other, appealing with a pathetic power to the
yet tender sensibilities of the men of the Twelfth. The regiment
remained in the position first occupied until the 20th, when it proceeded to Falmouth, going into camp about a mile and a half from
the Rappahannock, and settling down at once into the routine of
winter-quarters, and daily camp and outpost duty.
On the 1st of March, Colonel Johnson resigning on account of illhealth, Lieutenant-Colonel Willets was promoted to the Colonelcy, and Major Davis to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy, while Captain
"John T. Hill, of the Eleventh New Jersey, was made Major of the
regiment.  At length the winter passed, and with the opening
spring, preparations were made for a resumption of active operations. On the 27th of April, General Hooker, having matured his
plans, moved his columns to the assault. At this time, the Twelfth
was attached to the Third Divison of the Second Corps, and during
the memorable campaign now initiated, shared both the honors and
the perils of that magnificent command. Breaking camp on the
28th, the regiment marched to United States Ford, where, on the
30th, it crossed the Rappahannock, marching thence to a point near
Chancellorsville, where it encamped for the night.  At this time,
there had been but little fighting, and that mainly between our
cavalry and the retiring rebels. On the morrow, battle was joined
in desperate earnest, the conflict raging all day with terrific ferocity.




302           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
The Second Corps, however, was not engaged, although held in
readiness, and late in the day, advanced some two miles,-only to
find the enemy retiring, and our forces holding their position. Early
on the morrow, the contest was renewed, continuing with great vigor
during the entire day, but it was not until six o'clock in the evening that the Twelfth was ordered to advance. Moving on a doublequick to the Chancellor House, a line was formed in rear of one of
our batteries, but the enemy soon after withdrew, when the division
was ordered to another part of the field, to support the lines against
which Stonewall Jackson had thrown his corps with crushing force.
It was in this movement, while marching along the plank road to
take position, that the regiment was placed under fire for the first
time. Two men of Company IH were wounded by an exploding
shell, but not seriously. Later in the evening, the firing having
ceased, the regiment was moved still further to the front and placed
in line of battle, where it remained until the following morning,
when the enemy again pushed forward his columns to the attack,
and the engagement soon became general, the rebels directing their
blows at Sickles' Corps on the right, which, after stubbornly fighting for some hours, causing terrible havoc in the rebel ranks, was
compelled to recede some two hundred yards. About this time, two
divisions of the Second Corps, including that to which the Twelfth
was attached, were advanced to the rescue, and engaged the enemy
for perhaps half an hour, being ultimately obliged to retire. The
men of the Twelfth behaved with great gallantry, the loss being
severe, amounting to one hundred and seventy-nine in killed,
wounded and missing. Colonel Willets was seriously wounded in
the arm, while bravely encouraging his men, whereupon Major
Hill assumed command-Lieutenant-Colonel Davis being sick.
Lieutenant James Pearson, of Company F, and Lieutenant J. P
Franklin of Company A, were killed; Captain Stratton of Company F, lost a limb; and later in the day, Captain H. Mattison, of
Company H, and Private John*Graff, of the same company, were
wounded by shells, many of which fell in the ranks. The regiment also lost its color-sergeant, William Walton, in this engagement. The Twelfth, although under arms during the two succeed



TIE TWELFTH REGIMENT.                 303
ing days and nights, was not again engaged, and on the night of
the 5th, re-crossing the Rappahannock. proceeded to its old camp,
having in its first battle lost one-tenth of its men. Many of them,
however, having been but slightly, wounded rejoined the command during the following month. The regiment was now under
command of Major Hill; and the division being re-organized, the
Twelfth was assigned to the Second Brigade, consisting of the
Twelfth New Jersey, First Delaware, One Hundred and Eighth
New York and Fourteenth Connecticut, under command of Colonel
Thomas H. Smythe, First Delaware Volunteers. About the end of
May, General French was relieved from his division, and ordered
to the command of Harper's Ferry, the division being temporarily
commanded by Colonel S. S. Carroll, Eighth Ohio Volunteers.
The Second Corps was now commanded by General Hancock.
About the 1st of June, the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-eighth New
Jersey Regiments (nine months' men) were ordered home for musterout, and from this time until the spring of 1864, the Twelfth was
the only New Jersey Regiment in that corps.
Meanwhile, General Lee, hoping to profit from an offensive movement, was moving towards the Potomac, and on the 14th of June,
the rebel advance having already crossed into Maryland, Hooker
again put his columns in motion, the Twelfth Regiment breaking
camp at nine o'clock in the evening of that day, and marching
directly by way of Aquia Creek to Fairfax Station. Thence,
on the 19th, it marched by way of Gainesville in the direction of
Warrenton, remaining some days in that vicinity, on the watch
against the rebel cavalry hanging on the flank of our army. On
the 25th, the march was resumed in an easterly direction, the Poto-.
mac being crossed the next day at Edward's Ferry. On the night
of the 1st of July, the regiment halted two miles from Gettysburg,
where fighting had already commenced. The next morning, the
corps (Second) moved rapidly into position on Cemetery Hill,
forming the center of our line. The right of the brigade (One
Hundred and Eighth New York) was placed in a grove of trees
immediately south of the cemetery, the Twelfth regiment on its left
reaching up towards, but not resting against, the grove. Soon after




804           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
reaching the field, Company I, of the Twelfth, was sent out on the
skirmish line, but the combat not yet being opened, only two or
three casualties were sustained, and during the afternoon a house
and barn standing about two hundred yards west of the Emmettsburg road, and nearly equi-distant from  either army, —perhaps
one thousand yards from our line-having been occupied as a cover
by the rebel sharpshooters, Companies B, H, E and G, were sent
out to dislodge them, which they did, capturing six commissioned
officers and eighty men, but with considerable loss-Captain Horsfall, of Company E, a brave officer, being killed, and Lieutenant
Eastwick wounded.  This exploit closed the fighting of the day, so
far as the Twelfth was concerned. The battle was renewed early
on the morning of the 3d, on the right, but the center did not become warmly engaged until the afternoon, when the enemy opened
one hundred and fifteen guns on Cemetery Hill. The Twelfth,
however, was not idle. An attack from the enemy being anticipated, the men had hastily constructed breastworks, using on a part of
the line the natural defence of a stone wall, and throwing up on the
left of the regimental line frail earthworks, resting upon heaps of
rails. Meanwhile, five companies of the regiment, with the First
Delaware, had been sent out to charge the buildings in front, and
disperse the enemy. This was successfully accomplished, but not
without serious loss to the regiment-Lieutenant Trimble, of Com.
pany F, and some twenty five men being wounded.  At length,
the rebel cannonading having ceased, there was a lull, but it was
only for a moment.  Soon the rebel infantry, emerging from
behind batteries on the eastern slope of Oak Ridge, advanced
in three lines of battle to the assault, pressing straight up to Cemetery Hill, where the Second Corps awaited their coming. Still on
and on they came, our artillery sweeping their ranks, but the lines
still presenting an unbroken front. They had the flower of their
army in the advance, and victory was staked upon the issue. Still
they swept up the slopes, until at last, all along the hill, the battle
beat and raged with hideous fury. But at last, as they crossed the
Emmettsburg road, only a hundred yards from  our immovable
line, a storm of fire and lead burst right in their faces, volley after




THE TWELFTH  REGIMENT.                          805
volley of musketry smiting their serried ranks.  At the same instant enfilading fires from half a score of crests, swept over an d
among them.  Then, at last, their stern lines wavered; then, crumbled and broken, gave way. But again, in one fierce, convulsive
effort, they returned to the charge, but again were swept away like
merest chaff, and now, disheartened and beaten, finally withdrew,
leaving us victors at all points on the field. During this fearful
infantry contest, the Twelfth was actively engaged, but only lost
five or six men killed, including one officer and thirty men wounded.
During the artillery duel, preceding the assault, several shells fell
in the ranks of the regiment, one of which killed George Martin, of
Company A, besides wounding a number of men; but the aggregate casualties were comparatively few, considering the nature of
the combat, and the exposure of the men.2
This decisive victory practically ended the fighting at Gettysburg,
as it ended the invasion. During the 4th, there was some skirmishing at various points on the lines, Company A of the Twelfth, being
sent out as a reserve to the skirmish line during the afternoon, but
only one man, Thomas Whitsell, was wounded.  On the 5th, the
enemy having retreated-after removing the wounded and burying
the dead-our army started in pursuit.   The Twelfth, however,
was not again engaged.  Crossing the Potomac at Harper's Ferry;
on the 18th, it moved forward with the army to Warrenton, where
it rested for a time from the fatigues of the campaign. On the 1st
of August, the division was detached from the corps, to do picket
duty on and near the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, and the
2 A note from an officer of the regiment, says of the fighting at Gettysburg:
" On the 2l, the Twelfth Regiment was put in position on the right of the Second
Corps, just to the left of Woodruff's Battery, on Cemetery Hill, to the front and about
~two hundred yards to the right of the headquarters of General Meade, and near a small
house on the ridge. On the afternoon of the 2d of July, four companies of the regiment made a most gallant charge upon a barn filled with the enemy's sharpshooters,
situate about six hundred yards in front of our position; and though strongly resisted,
captured it, with about one hundred prisoners. In this attack, Captain Horsfall, of
Camden, commanding Company E, was killed. This charge was repeated the next
morning by four other companies of the regiment, and the barn again taken.
"In the final assault of the 3d of July, the Twelfth, with its brigade, were attacked
by Pettigrew's Brigade of North Carolina troops, which was formed upon the left flank
of Pickett's Division, but repulsed them with very severe loss, capturing many prisoners and several colors. Lieutenant Richard H. Townsend, of Cape May, was killed in
this action. The loss in the regiment was about one hundred and twenty."
39




306           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Twelfth was so fortunate as to secure a camp in the midst of a grove,
with a stream of water running through it, where each wing of the
regiment enjoyed its ease, when not on picket. Some weeks later,
however, the enemy having captured two gunboats on the Rappahannock River, below Fredericksburg, this camp was temporarily
abandoned, the division (on August 31st,) marching to a point on
the river a few miles above Fredericksburg, where it acted as a
support to the cavalry, who crossed the river, re captured and destroyed the gunboats-the infantry, thereupon, returning to their old
position. On the 12th of September, the army was again put in
motion. Crossing the Rappahannock, Pleasanton's Cavalry drove in
the rebel cavalry, under Stuart, to Brandy Station and Culpepper
Court House, and thence across the Rapidan, capturing two guns
and quite a body of prisoners. The infantry columns at once followed the cavalry, the Second Corps advancing to, and taking position upon, the Rapidan, while the bulk of our force was posted at
Culpepper Court House. The Twelfth Regiment, for the three following weeks, was engaged in picket duty, but the corps (on the
5th of October) being relieved by the Sixth, it proceeded to the
rear. But a few days elapsed, however, when the columns were
again put in motion; Lee having crossed Robertson's River, and
advanced in force from Madison Court House on our right, our forces
re-crossed the Rappahannock, the Second Corps being in the rear.
On the 14th, when near Auburn Mills, some two miles east of Warrenton, the rebel cavalry made an attack upon this corps, evidently
hoping to capture its train; but they were repulsed with loss, and
the corps continued its retreat towards Centreville, the point which
Lee was straining every nerve to reach in advance of our troops.
The rebel cavalry sharply pursuing, their advance, supported by
infantry, came up with our rear near Bristow Station, and a sharp
engagement ensued. The Twelfth Regiment which, with the Second
Brigade, held the rear, was promptly hurried up, and being placed
in line, moved to a "cut" in the railroad, where, under shelter
from the enemy's musketry, it became warmly engaged. The enemy
(Hill's Corps) was finally repulsed with the loss of six guns, five
of which vere at once seized and put to use on our side. In this




THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.                   307
engagement, which lasted three or four hours, several men of the
Twelfth were wounded, Lieutenant Lowe, of Company G, being
among the number.3  Colonel Davis had command of the regiment during the movement, and afterwards until his death. Major
Hill was absent sick, about this time, and after an examination by
a commission, was mustered out on account of permanent disability.
The rebels having withdrawn, the march towards Bull Run was resumed, that place being reached on the following morning.  The
rebel cavalry continued to hover upon the flanks of our army for
several days, but finding no point in our line which invited attack,
they finally retired, followed in turn by our troops-the pursued
taking a position on the Rappahannock, and the pursuers going into
camp at Warrenton and vicinity. While lying at this place, Captain
Chase, of Company A, (Twelfth,) left the regiment, his strength
having broken down under the fatiguing marches of the summer
and fall campaign.
On the 7th of November, the army was again put in motion,
crossing the Rappahannock at Rappahannock Station, and at Kelley's ford, the Sixth Corps having a severe engagement, but routing
the enemy at the former point, and the Third at the latter; but
neither the Twelfth Regiment nor the Second Corps was engaged.
This movement gave us complete command of the fords, and Lee at
once fell back to Culpepper, and thence across the Rapidan.  Our
railroad was then rebuilt down to and across the Rappahannock, and
re-opened to Brandy Station, which thus became our depot of supplies-our army encamping in close proximity thereto.  On the
23d, the troops were again ordered to be ready for a movement,
but a heavy storm coming on, they did not actually'get into motion
until the 26th, when the Rapidan was crossed at the different fords.
This movement was that known as the "Mine Run campaign,"
which, on our part, proved a miserable failure.  After six days of
marching and countermarching, a retreat was ordered, and the old
camps were re-occupied, but only for a few days, when a new position was selected at and around Stephensburg, the rebel cavalry
and pickets having been driven across the river some two miles
3 This officer subsequently died from the effects of his wounds.




308           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
further south.  In the skirmishes at Mine Run, the Twelfth Regiment did not, fortunately, sustain any casualties, although under
fire on several occasions. One man, however, was taken prisoner,
who subsequently died in one of the death-pens at Richmond.
The work of erecting winter-quarters now commenced, and the
regiment had just made itself cosy and comfortable, when (December 27th) an order came for it to move (with the brigade) to a new
position. No order, perhaps, was ever more unwelcome than this,
but it was promptly obeyed-the regiment marching some two
miles, and establishing a camp at a place called Stony Mountain,
near the river and much in advance of the infantry picket line. The
object of this change appeared to be to give a support to the cavalry picket-line, which had been greatly weakened by the withdrawal
of a large number of men who, having re-enlisted, were entitled to a
veteran furlough of thirty days. On the 16th of February, 1864,
the regiment was again ordered to move, and participated in the
advance which proved to be a reconnoissanrce in force, made for the
purpose of diverting the attention of the enemy from the operations
of our cavalry under Kilpatrick, who started on an expedition
towards Richmond. In this reconnoissance, the entire Second Corps
was moved to the river, but only the Third Division crossed. The
pontoon train having been delayed, the river-which was about
three feet deep-had to be forded, and this being done, the men
were obliged to cross a ravine, exposed to the fire of rebel batteries.
This was gallantly accomplished, the troops crossing the ravine,
and getting into position behind a slight embankment, where they
were comparatively secure from artillery. Even here, however, it
was necessary to lie fiat on the ground, or keep very low, in order
to escape the enemy's sharpshooters; and this it was almost impossible to do, owing to the severe cold, and the prevalence of a chilly
northeast storm, which caused the clothing of the men to stiffen,
and rendered bodily action necessary to keep them from freezing.
During the afternoon, several small fires were built, but these,
while affording some little warmth, also attracted the aim of the
sharpshooters, and Jesse Osborn, of Company A, in this way
received a wound through the head, which caused his death on the




THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.                         309
following day.  Darkness having come on, a detachment of the
enemy endeavored to get into the rear of our troops, hoping to cut
off their retreat; but, being detected, were repulsed with loss after
a spirited engagement, whereupon the division, having accomplished the work assigned to it, re-crossed the river, and returned
gladly to camp. In this affair, some ten men of the Twelfth Regiment were wounded, but only one fatally.
During the winter, a chapel was built in the camp of the brigade by the One Hundred and Eighth New  York Regiment, at
which  members of the Twelfth were regular attendants on  all
occasions when religious services were held. In the re-organization
of the army, upon Grant's accesssion to the supreme command,
the regiment (with the brigade,) was placed in the Second Division,
Second CorJs, and consolidated with Carroll's Brigade, (First Brigade, Third Division,) with Colonel Carroll in command.4 At
length, spring dawned-as well over the tented-field as upon the
peaceful homesteads where no sound of war had ever disturbed
the familiar calm; and the notes of preparation for active campaigning were once more heard.  On the night of the 3d of May,
all being in readiness, the Army of the Potomac moved from its
camp to grapple once more with the enemy.  The Third Brigade,
of which the Twelfth Regiment now  formed a part, reached the
Chancellorsville battle-field on the 4th, moving. the next day, in a
southerly direction towards Shady Grove Church. Meanwhile, the
enemy, ever on the alert, had vigorously attacked the Fifth Corps,
while moving into position at Parker's Store, and the Sixth
becoming also engaged, the Second was hurriedly countermarched
4 The regiments in the brigade with the Twelfth were the Fourth and Eighth Ohio,
Seventh West Virginia, Fourteenth Indiana, First Delaware, One Hundred and Eighth
New York, battalion of Tenth New York and Fourteenth Connecticut. The regiment was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas H. Davis, and the companies
were commanded as follows: Company A, by Captain Phipps; Company B, by Captain
Williams; Company C, by Captain Brooks; Company D, by Captain McCoomb; Company E, by Captain Dare; Company F, by Captain Acton; Company G, by Captain
Potter; Company H, by First Lieutenant Fogg, (Captain Mattison being detached as a
Brigade Inspector in the First Division of the corps;) Company I, by Captain Chew,
and Company K, by First Lieutenant Frank M. Riley (Captain Thompson being detached
on recruiting service.) The regiment numbered about four hundred and twenty-five
muskets.




310             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
to a  point where  the road from  Germania Ford crosses the
Fredericksburg and Orange Court House plank road, where, facing
westward, it swung in on Warren's left, and became hotly engaged.
The Twelfth Regiment was promptly formed in line, but only a
portion of the command participated in the engagement, being
detailed to advance to the brow of a hill in front, which was commanded by the enemy's fire.  The regiment, however, although
not engaged as a whole, suffered considerably-Lieutenant John M.
Fogg, of Company H, being killed, while Lieutenant Frank IM.
Riley, of Company K, and several others, were wounded.5 During
the day, Captain H. A. Mattison, of Company H, serving on the
staff of the Irish Brigade, was wounded and taken prisoner, and
subsequently was one of the officers who were placed, by the rebels,
under the fire of our batteries in Charleston, South Carolina. At
five o'clock on the morning of the 6th, the Second Corps once
more pushed forward, crowding back the enemy and taking many
prisoners, advancing nearly two miles, across the Brock road, on
the way to Parker's Store-the point at which it anxiously aimed.
Here, however, the enemy was reinforced, and'the fight became
stubborn and murderous.  The Twelfth Regiment-in the second
line-was soon advanced to relieve the troops in front, and immediately became actively engaged, though the undergrowth in front
rendered accuracy of fire impossible, and, in fact, prevented either
belligerent seeing the other face to face. It soon became evident,
however, that a force greatly superior to our own had been thrown
forward at this point, and a flank as well as a galling front fire
caused the line to fall back a short distance, where it could avail
itself of the support of the third line.  Thus the battle continued,
raging with great fury, until eleven o'clock, when, effecting a
breach in our lines on the left, the rebels hurled in an overwhelming force, and caused a stampede of our advanced troops some half
a mile to the rear, where breastworks, hastily thrown up, enabled
"Lieutenant Fogg, at the time of his death, was about twenty-three years of age,
and few nobler or more promising youths fell during the war. Pure in character, of
heroic courage, ardent and self-sacrificing in the performance of his duty, he entered,
the service from purely patriotic motives, and bravely died in the dawn of the campaign
which was to witness the overthrow of the enemy."-Letter to the author.




THE TWELFTH  REGIMENT.                            311
them to re-form. Subsequently, being strengthened by Burnside's
Corps, the line was again advanced, but Hill and Longstreet falling
furiously upon our left and left center, we were once more pushed
back. At this moment, however, the Third Brigade, under Colonel
Carroll, struck  the advancing foe in flank, and  he, in turn, was
driven with heavy loss, our troops regaining their former position,
and holding  it during the night.  During  this engagement, the
Twelfth lost heavily, Lieutenant-Colonel Davis, Captains Chew and
Potter being among the wounded.6   On the three subsequent days
the regiment was not engaged, but on the 10th, participated in a
charge of the corps against the position of the enemy, being
exposed  to  a heavy fire which placed a number of men hors du
combat.  On the night of the  11th, silently  moving by the left
flank from its position in front of Hill, the corps took post between
the Sixth and Ninth Corps, where, at daylight on the morning of
the 12th, it assailed the salient angle of earthworks, held by Johnson's Division, of Ewell's Corps. In this magnificent assault, which
resulted in the capture of over three thousand prisoners and some
thirty guns, the Twelfth again suffered severely, Lieutenant-Colonel
Davis being instantly killed while bravely leading the regiment;
Captain H. M. Brooks and Lieutenant E. P. Phipps were severely
wounded, and were  obliged to quit the service in consequence.'
6 A note from an officer says:
"The Twelfth, in this severe action, lost about two hundred men, or nearly one-half
of its numbers, and Lieutenant-Colonel Davis, Captains Chew and Potter were wounded.
Captain Mattison was missing for some weeks and supposed to be killed, but finally
turned up a prisoner. Here also fell Color-Sergeant Charles H. Cheeseman, Company
E, of Camden, who had borne the colors of the regiment with great bravery through
all its battles."
7 "Here its thinned line was terribly shattered. Captains Phipps, Williams and Brooks
and Lieutenant Lippincott were wounded and Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas H. Davis
was killed. Colonel Davis, at the time of his death, was about twenty-seven years of
age, tall and commanding in his appearance, active in his movements. Prompt to think
and to act, he was a fine example of the American Volunteer Soldier. Warm and genial
in his impulses, kind and generous in all his actions, brave and dashing to a fault when
under fire, he had knit to him the affections of his men as by hooks of steel, so that
wherever he led, none hesitated to follow. Knocked down and badly abused by a fragment of shell on the 6th, he still persisted in leading his regiment through the campaign, and the last words he said to the writer were: "That he could not think of
leaving his regiment so long as he could sit his horse, knowing that they were to
fight again soon."  While the line shook under the terrific fire which met it, as it
crowned the enemy's works, he sprang in front of the colors, and was cheering on his




312               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE  REBELLION.
From  this time until the 18th, both armies continued to manoeuvre
for position, the Second Corps gradually moving to the left. On
the evening of the 19th, the wagon train was attacked by the
enemy, and the brigade, to which the regiment was attached, was
hurried forward, but being some distance from the scene of action,
did not arrive in time to participate in the engagement.
On the night of the 20th, orders for a new movement were issued,
and these being executed, the army, on the 1st of June, came into
position in front of Cold Harbor, the Second Corps being placed on
the left, with the Sixth on its right.  Here, on the morning of the
8d, an assault was made along the center line of the enemy, the
Second Corps pushing the enemy out of his works, and capturing
several hundred prisoners. Rallying, however, on their second
line, the rebels threw in a fearful enfilading fire upon our advance,
and in turn drove it out to seek shelter from the leaden storm. In
this assault, the loss of the Twelfth was severe, Captain McCoomb,
commanding the regiment, being mortally wounded by the explosion of a shell, which also killed and wounded several privates.
Withdrawing a short distance, a line was formed and hastily fortified with breastworks, which proved of great service, the enemy
men with animated words and gestures when the fatal bullet struck him and he fell
dead on the blood-stained slopes.
"After leaving Spottsylvania, the regiment was commanded by Captain James
McCoomb, of Camden, was engaged in various skirmishes, and at the North Anna
deployed in one rank, made a charge, which General Thomas H. Smythe pronounced
the finest he ever saw. Lieutenant Franklin, the Adjutant of the regiment, was
wounded in this action.
" Colonel Carroll being wounded at Spottsylvania, Colonel Smythe was assigned to
command the brigade, and with him the regiment joined in the attack at Cold Harbor,
June 3, 1864, where its losses were so heavy that it was reduced to ninety muskets.
Here Captain McCoomb, commanding the regiment, an excellent and deserving officer,
lost his leg, and after amputation, died in Washington. The regiment lay for nearly
two weeks under fire at Cold Harbor, losing some men every day, and moved thence
June 13th, under command of Captain Dare.  The line officers present here were
Captains Dare, Acton, and Potter, (who had returned, having recovered from his
wound,) and Lieutenant Rich, Acting Adjutant, Lieutenant Stratton (who had returned
from recruiting service,) and Lieutenant Lippincott (who had returned recovered from his
wound). The regiment marched via Charles City Court House toWilcox's Landing, on
the James, which it crossed on steamboats onithe 15th, and on the 16th, about nine
o'clock, p. m., was in position in the entrenchments before Petersburg, and on the
right of the Second Corps, relieving the Eighteenth Corps, which had previously
captured the works. The regiment was engaged on the 18th and 19th of June, and also
on the 22d. Here it was joined by Major (formerly Captain) Thompson, who returned
from recruiting service and assumed command."-Yotefrom an  officer.




THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.                  813
charging, some hours later, with a determination that, but for this
defence, might have resulted most disastrously to our arms. On
the night of the 4th, a second attack was made, but feebler than
that of the 3d, being repulsed without loss to our side. On the 7th,
the Second Corps was extended to the Chickahorniny (Joseph Burroughs, of the Twelfth, being on this day wounded by a sharpshooter;) and on the 12th and 13th, the entire army, Grant having
again resolved upon a flanking movement, crossed that stream, on
Lee's right. Pushing to the James, that river was also crossed, and
on the 16th, the advance went into position before Petersburg,
against which, operations were already in progress. Up to this
time, the total loss of the Twelfth Regiment, in this memorable
campaign, had been some two hundred and fifty killed, wounded
and missing-a large proportion of the wounded being officers.
From this time forward, the regiment was in position at various
points on the line, and participated in the movement and affair at
Strawberry Plains and Deep Bottom, on the north side of the James,
on the 26th of July. Thence, by a forced march, it returned to
the Petersburg front, arriving in time to support the assault at the
explosion of the mine, July 30th, though not actually engaged.  It
participated in the second movement to Deep Bottom, charging the
enemy's picket line under Captains Chew and Acton, August 16th,
and returning, marched to the extreme left flank of the Army of
the Potomac, whence, on the 23d of August, it was marched to
Ream's Station, on the Weldon Railroad, where the First Division
of the corps had preceded it. It arrived at Ream's Station on the
morning of the 24th, and during that day was engaged in destroying the track of the railroad. On the morning of the 25th, the
division moved out to proceed with the work of destruction, but
were met in such force that General Hancock deemed it prudent to
retire them to the Station, where a slight line of breastworks was
thrown up. Here, about five o'clock, p. m., Hill's (rebel) Corps,
which had been repulsed in the previous assaults, succeeded in
breaking the lines of the First Division, and by command of General Gibbon, the Twelfth was ordered up to its support. It moved
gallantly forward, and succeeded in retaking a portion of the cap40




314               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
tured works, with McKnight's (Twelfth New York) Battery, which
was in possession of the enemy.  In this severe action, LieutenantColonel R. S. Thompson, commanding the regiment, was severely
wounded, and Lieutenants Rich and Stratton were killed. Aftei
the action at Ream's Station, the Twelfth was in various positions
along the Petersburg front,-in Fort Hell, on the Jerusalem  plank
road, in Fort Morton and at other points, until October 27th, when
it moved out and participated in the action known as the battle of
the Boydton road, where it lost four killed  and nine woundedincluding Captain T. O. Slater. In the winter of 1864-65, it took
part in the various actions at Hatcher's Run, where, in one instance,
it charged across the run, which was waist deep, and  took  the
enemy's works, upon which its color-bearer, Ellwood Griscom, was
the first to plant the national colors. The regiment was at this
time under command of Major H. F. Chew.  It was present in the
movements of the army preceding the main assault on the Petersburg defences,' took part in the assault, under the command of
Major Chew, and aided in the various actions during Lee's retreat,
until his surrender, April 9th, 1865.   At Farmville, April 7th,
General Thomas H. Smythe, commanding the brigade, to whom the
regiment was greatly attached, was killed while  deploying it as
skirmishers. At Burkesville, on its way back from Appomattox
Court House, it received about three hundred recruits, the first ever
sent it (save about thirty). It returned, via Richmond, to Bailey's
9 " In December, we occupied different positions along the works in front of Petersburg; on February 6th, the Twelfth participated in the action at Dabney's Mills. On
the 25th of March, Fort Steadman was taken by the rebels, which brought on an action
along different portions of the line. The Twelfth was engaged in one action at Hatcher's Run, where it charged the works, along with other troops, and succeeded in capturing them, with about one hundred prisoners. This charge was made under a great
many difficulties. The run being deep, the men had to cross one by one on fallen
trees, in the face of a galling fire. March 29th, the Twelfth, with other troops, moved
out of camp towards the Boydton road, and took a position in the woods, where it laid
during the night. April 1st, were engaged in building a corduroy road, so that the
artillery could be brought up in position. April 2d, charged the works, together with
other troops, and marched on to Petersburg. Reached the Southside Railroad and
moved down it for some miles and remained during the night; marched back to Petersburg on the morning of the 3d. Left there again about noon, and marched on towards
Burkesville. The Twelfth was engaged nearly every day in skirmishing with the rebels
during the retreat of Lee, and was present at the surrender on the 9th of April." —Notes
of an officer.




TIE TWELTFH REGIMENT.                     315
Cross Roads, in front of Washington, where, in June, 1865, the old
battalion of the regiment was mustered out of service, and later in
July, 1865, the remainder of the regiment. Towards the end of
its term  of service, Lieutenant-Colonel Willian, Eighth New Jersey Volunteers, was mustered in as its Colonel, and First Lieutenant
E. M. DuBois, as its Major.
It is the boast of the Twelfth, as it is that of most of the New
Jersey Regiments, that it was always in the post of danger, that it
suffered, in action, most severely, and that it could always be relied
on for perilous duty.  Major-General French regarded the Twelfth
as one of the finest regiments in the army; and the commanding
officers of the brigade were always unanimous in its praise.  Its
losses were very severe in men and officers, and were never supplied
by the State, no recruits (except about thirty) having been sent it
until after the surrender of Lee. It never lost a color in action,
and had very few prisoners taken. It never was broken, and never
retreated, until the whole line was broken, or ordered back.  It was
composed of the flower and strength of the rural population of
South Jersey, and on every field in Virginia, they bravely maintained the honor of their flag and State.




CHAPTER XI.
THE THIRTEENTH  REGIMENT.
THE Thirteenth Regiment was mustered in at Camp Frelinghuysen, near Newark, on the 25th of August, 1862, with  Ezra  A.
Carm:an, formerly of the Seventh Regiment, as Colonel; Robert S.
Swords  as Lieutenant-Colonel;  Samuel Chadwick, who  raised
Company A, as Major; Charles A. Hopkins as Adjutant; Doctor
John J. H. Love, as Surgeon, Doctor J. H. Freeman, as AssistantSurgeon; Garret S. Byrne, as Quartermaster; and Rev. T. Romeyn
Beck as Chaplain.' The regiment remained in camp until the
31st, when it started for Washington, reaching that city on September 2d, and being at once sent into camp near Fort Richardson,
Arlington Heights. At this time the enemy was' moving in strong
force towards Harper's Ferry  and the  Upper Potomac, and the
Thirteenth was at once set to work in building lines of earthworks
1 The roster of the regiment was as follows:
Company A-Captain, S. V. C. Van Rensselaer; First Lieutenant, C. H. Bliven;
Second Lieutenant, George M. Hard.  Company B-Captain, John Grimes; First
Lieutenant, Robert Bumstead; Second Lieutenant, J. L. Carman.  Company CCaptain, David A. Ryerson; First Lieutenant, W. A. Bucklish; Second Lieutenant,
Peter Field. Company D-Captain, George A. Beardsley; First Lieutenant, T. B.
Smith; Second Lieutenant, C. H. Canfield.  Company E-Captain, Frederick H.
Harris; First Lieutenant, E. D. Pierson; Second Lieutenant, Ambrose Matthews.
Company F-Captain, Alexander Vreeland; First Lieutenant, F. W. Sullivan; Second
Lieutenant, Charles Guyer. Company G-Captain, John H. Arey; First Lieutenant,
Thomas C. Chandler; Second Lieutenant, H. F. Nichols. Company I —Captain, James
Branin; First Lieutenant, James Henry; Second Lieutenant, Robert G, Wilson.
Cormpany I-Captain, Charles Mackey; First Lieutenant, Henry Reynolds. Company
— Captain, H. C. Irish; First Lieutenant, J. W. Scott.
Of the above, the following resigned before the close of the year:  Captain
Alexander Vreeland, Company F, resigned October 24, 1862; Captain James Branin,
Company H, resigned October 24, 1862; Captain Charles Mackey, Company I,
resigned October 24, 1862; First Lieutenant William Bucklish, Company C, resigned
October 9, 1862; First Lieutenant Flavel W. Sullivan, Company F, resigned October
24, 1862; First Lieutenant Thomas C. Chandler, Company G, resigned December 3,
1862; First Lieutenant Henry Reynolds, Company I, resigned October 24, 1862.




THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT.                  317
and rifle pits, in view of the possibility of an attack. Here the
regiment was placed in Brigadier-General Gordon's (Third) Brigade,
Second Division, of what was then known as "Banks' Old
Corps"-under command of General Mansfield.  On the evening
of the 6th, the command (with the rest of the corps,) crossed the
Potomac at Aqueduct Bridge, and on the following day, continuing
its march, camped about two miles beyond Rockville, where it
remained until the 9th, when. the enemy having retired, it again
moved forward with the army, leaving behind the sick, and a few
men to guard the property, which was subsequently taken to
Washington.  A large part of this regimental property was never
afterwards recovered, which, in some respects was a decided advantage, since, being in such quantity as to require thirty-two army
wagons to transport it, its care must have seriously impeded the
movements of the command.  Moving forward from day to day,
the regiment, on the 13th, reached the vicinity of Frederick, Maryland, which had been entered the day previous by General Burnside. Our army was now rapidly coming up, and concentrating
for a grapple with the enemy who had massed his troops for the
struggle.  On the 14th, the battle of South Mountain was fought,
resulting in the expulsion of the rebels from the strong position
which they had seized. The Thirteenth moved at eight o'clock in
the morning, marching for sixteen hours, with frequent halts, the
roads being obstructed with trains of artillery, and the troops, therefore, moving on by-roads and across fields, over the Catoctin Hills
west of Frederick, and through the beautiful Middletown Valley
until, at sunset, the flash of guns on the opposite range showed the
position of the enemy. During the night, the rebels retreated
through Boonsborough, moving rapidly towards the Sharpsburg
peninsula of the Potomac, leaving their dead, and in many cases
their wounded, on the field.  On the 15th, our army moved out in
pursuit.  During the 16th, the Thirteenth remained in the vicinity
of Keedysville, cooking rations and obtaining rest, in preparation for
the battle now anticipated. The rebels at this time were posted on
the right or westerly bank of Antietam Creek, occupying the hills
and ridges in front of Sharpsburg, which they had fortified. About




318              NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
midnight, orders were received  to  move  immediately, and  the
Thirteenth, crossing the creek in the utmost silence, took position
with the reserves, on the right. Here the men lay down, and were
awakened at daybreak by the firing of the pickets, who had come
into collision. In a few minutes the regiment was put in motion,
and going further to the right, was posted as a support to a battery.
Then, the battle having meanwhile opened with great violence, the
Thirteenth (with the Second Massachusetts,) was ordered to advance
towards a piece of woods, out of which Iooker and Sumner had
already been driven.  Moving forward through a corn-field, in line
of battle, the command soon reached the IHagerstown  road at a
point some distance north of the Dunker Church, passing over the
fence into the road, in full view of the enemy, who at once opened
a pitiless fire. Fortunately, our men were somewhat protected by
a fence, but they could not long face the withering fire directed
against them.  Captain H. C. Irish, while gallantly attempting to
cross a second fence, west of the road, at the head of his company,
was shot and instantly killed, and a large number of the regiment
were speedily placed hors du combat.  The enemy, who was protected by ledges of rock, still continuing his fire, the regiment broke,
and in confusion fell back a distance of some three or four hundred
yards, to the shelter of another strip of woods.  Here, after a time,
it was re-formed under General Gordon's order, and after giving
three rousing cheers, again advanced  as a support to  General
Greene, who had entered the woods, (near the Dunker Church,)
skirting the Hagerstown pike on the west.2  Entering the woods,
2 As cnabling the reader better to understand the operations of the regiment, it
may be stated that its position, on the opening of the engagement, was about half
a mile cast of the Hagerstown road, which runs northwardly from Sharpsburg. The
Dunker Church stands in the edge of a piece of woods on the west side of this road,
and about one mile north of Sharpsburg. The enemy at the time of the first advance
held the woods around and north of the church, and commanded most of the ground,
somewhat rolling in its formation, in his front-that is, east of the pike at that
point. At the time of the second advance, the enemy had been partly driven from the
woods around the church, but still had a force concealed in a ravine near its farther
edge, so that when the Thirteenth, pushing past the church, entered the woods, it
soon became exposed to the assault of the concealed foe, who, marching out of the
ravine, attacked with great violence, rendering any further advance on our part
impossible.




THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT.                      819
the command went into position on Green's right, where it remained
for some time, the men behaving creditably, and only retiring when
assailed by an overwhelming force of the enemy, who, suddenly
marching up from a ravine, grounded arms, as if in token of surrender, and then-having, by this stratagem caused a cessation of
our fire-opened with murderous ferocity on our flank, rendering
a retreat inevitable. The entire loss of the regiment was seven
killed, seventy wounded, (of whom eleven afterwards died,) and
twenty-five missing.'  General George II. Gordon, in his report of
this battle, says: " The Second Massachusetts and Thirteenth New
Jersey were put in motion, and pushed forward with great alacrity,
sufficiently far to find that the troops to be supported had retired.
They were received with a galling fire, which they sustained, and
returned for a brief period, then fell back upon their supports."
*  %  ~~ " HHaving received an urgent call from General Green, to
send him  any reinforcements I might have, and could spare, I
directed the Thirteenth New Jersey to support him.  This regiment,
for the first time under fire, moved coolly, and in an orderly manner,
towards General Green's position; and I am much gratified to report
that the General has spoken to me of their conduct, in terms of high
commendation."  In another part of his report, he says: "In this
battle, officers and men behaved with most praiseworthy intrepidity
and coolness. The Thirteenth New Jersey (Colonel Carman,) being
new troops, might well stand appalled at such exposure, but they
did not flinch in the discharge of their duties. I have no words
but praise for their conduct.  They fought like veterans, and stood
shoulder to shoulder with those who had borne the brunt of war
on the Peninsula, in the Shenandoah Valley, and from Front Roval
to the Rapidan.  They were led by those who inspired them  with
courage, and they followed with a determination to conquer or
die." This is high praise for raw and inexperienced troops, going
3 The following is Colonel Carman's report:' SEPTEMBER 18, 1862.
"I have the honor to report that the Thirteenth Regiment was engaged yesterday
in the great battle at this place. For raw troops, worn out by constant marching,
they did nobly, and it gives me pleasure to say that we were recipients of much
praise from general officers, who witnessed our participation in the struggle."




320           NET  JERSEY AND TH1 REBELLIOiN.
into battle when exhausted by long marches: and the men of the
Thirteenth were justly proud of the eminence they had thus
attained in the esteem and confidence of their superiors.
In this battle, the fruits of which McClellan unaccountably
neglected to gather, General Mansfield was killed, and the command of the corps devolved upon Brigadier-General A. S. Williams, that of the division (First,) upon General Gordon, and
of the brigade  (Third,) upon Colonel Ruger, of the Third
Wisconsin Regiment.  The Thirteenth, under command of the
Lieutenant-Colonel, remained in position on the battle-field during
the night succeeding the battle, expecting that in the morning the
engagement would be renewed.  But the day passed without
assault, though the enemy lay immediately in our front, engaged
in robbing our dead and his own of their shoes, and so supplying
his unshod veterans.  As the next morning, however, dawned
over the ghastly field, it was discovered that the rebels had withdrawn across the river.  On the 19th, the regiment was ordered
to move, and passing over a part of the battle-field, proceeded
towards Harper's Ferry, halting, on the 20th, four miles from Sandy
Hook, Maryland, where it remained until the 23d, when it went
into camp on Maryland Heights.  Iere it remained for some
weeks, suffering much from sickness, the men being engaged in
cutting timber, preparatory to the erection of strong fortifications
on the slopes and summit of the mountain. During the greater
part of the time the regiment remained at this point it was without
tents; shelter tents, however, finally arrived, and the condition of
the troops was much improved.  While here, Lieutenant Carman
was commissioned as Second Lieutenant of Company E, vice
A. M. Matthews promoted to be First Lieutenant of Company K,
and First Lieutenant Hopkins was made Adjutant.  On the 27th
of October, the regiment was visited by President Lincoln, and on
the 30th, under orders from headquarters, it left its camp and
marched up the PotomacRiver to the mouth of Antietam Creek;
thence marching through Sharpsburg and encamping three miles
west of that town, in the direction of Shepherdstown.  Here the
regiment performed picket duty on the northeast side of the river,




THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT.                 321
covering a portion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal-the rebels
picketting on the opposite side of the river.  On the 12th of
November, one-half of the regiment (right wing,) moved one mile
nearer Sharpsburg, Lieutenant-Colonel Swords commanding this
wing, and Major Chadwiok commanding the other-Colonel Carman occupying a position about midway between the camps.  The
regiment continued in this position, doing heavy picket duty,
in common with the rest of the brigade, until the 10th of December,
when it moved to Harper's Ferry, crossing at that point on the
morning of the 11th, and moving by way of Hillsborough, Lees
burg and Fairfax Station to a point beyond the Occoquan Creek,
where (December 16th,) intelligence of Burnside's failure at
Fredericksburg was received,. and the column rapidly countermarched to Fairfax Station.  This march from  Harper's Ferry
was, for the most part, over miserable roads, and the men suffered
greatly, being exposed to snow-storms and every possible discomfort. Remaining at the station until the 26th, the regiment was
moved to the north side of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad,
moving thence, on the following day, to Wolf Run Shoals, on
Occoquan River, only to return, however, on the 27th, and again
advance on the 4th of January, (1863,) with the Third Wisconsin
to the river named.  Here the two regiments performed picket
duty for a fortnight, when (on the 20th,) they moved forward by
way of Dumfries to Stafford Court House, near which, on the 25th,
they went into winter-quarters. During the winter the Thirteenth
was engaged in drill and other routine duties, and, although
exposed to many severe storms, was comparatively comfortableGeneral Hooker having been appointed to the command of the
army, it was re-organized and every possible effort made to improve
its tone and spirit. During the winter, Lieutenant-Colonel Swords
sent in his resignation, and on the 5th of February, left the regiment, Major Chadwick being appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, and
Captain Grimes made Major. During February, four companies
of the regiment (E, F, G and H,) were detached and sent, under
command of Lieutenant-Colonel Chadwick, to a point upon Aquia
Creek, called White House Landing, for fatigue work, unloading
41




322           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLIOT.
stores, &c. The Lieutenant-Colonel becoming ill, the command
devolved upon Captain Harris. On the 30th of March, one of the
detached companies returned to the regiment, being followed by
the three others on the 5th of April.
At length, Hooker, having matured his plans for an offensive
movement, on the 27th of April, set his columns in motion, concentrating on Chancellorsville.  Breaking camp at five o'clock in
the morning, the Thirteenth marched out with its corps (the
Twelfth) in the advance, and pressing rapidly forward, at daylight
on the 29th crossed the Rappahannock at Kelley's Ford, thence
moving to Germania Ford on the Rapidan. Here a small party of
rebels engaged in constructing a bridge were captured, and the
river was forded without opposition,. the bridge being at once completed and used in crossing by the troops who had not yet come up.
Bivouacking about a mile from the river, the whole regiment was
placed on picket, but promptly, on the goth, resumed the advanceGordon's Brigade forming the rear-guard of the corps. Reaching
the plank road running from  Fredericksburg to Orange Court
House, near the old Wilderness Tavern, the regiment pushed forward to the Chancellor House, where, after various movements, it
bivouacked in line of battle on the south side of, and nearly parallel
to, the plank road, in such position as to cover it effectually. On
the following morning, (May 1st,) the corps was pushed towards the
United States Ford, to co-operate in the crossing of the Third Corps
-the skirmishers soon becoming heavily engaged. During the
early part of this engagement, Colonel Carman was injured, and
the command devolved upon Major Grimes. The object of the
movement having been accomplished, the brigade returned to its
old position, south of the plank road, where it remained under
arms during the-night. Early on the 2d, orders were received to
build breastworks with abattis in front, which was rapidly done-a
strong line of works being thrown up, extending from the Rappahannock east of United States Ford on the left, for a distance of
some four miles to the right of the Eleventh Corps, which was
without protection. That corps being on the right of the Twelfth,
the line presented a convex front to the enemy; and had the right




THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT.                  823
of the Eleventh been properly protected, the line must have been a
very strong one. During the afternoon, there was heavy firing on
the left, and about five o'clock, under a belief that the enemy was
retreating, the Twelfth Corps was moved out of the breastworks in
pursuit. Soon after, however, Stonewall Jackson, with his corps of
twenty.five thousand men, made a furious attack upon the exposed
right flank of the army, surprising and driving the Eleventh Corps
in great confusion down the Chancellorsville road. The Twelfth
Corps was at once re-called, and a new line formed facing the west,
running at right angles to the plank road and the breastworks built
in the morning-part of which were now occupied by the enemy.
"Stand steady, old Third Brigade," cried the commander, as the
masses of the fugitives swept down from the field; and bravely
and steadily it obeyed the order, the Thirteenth behaving admirably
throughout.  So immovable was our line, and so terrible the fire
from Best's Battery of the corps, (and not of the Third Corps, as
represented in cotemporary accounts,) that the headlong advance of
the enemy was speedily checked. Finally, the conflict abating,
opportunity was afforded for re-arranging the line, which was done
by drawing it in and extending the right wing to the Rappahannock, so that each wing now rested on a river. During the fighting
of the afternoon, Major Grimes was wounded, and the command
devolved upon Captain Beardsley, assisted by Captains Ryerson and
Harris. Here, as on subsequent fields, Captain Beardsley displayed
the highest soldierly qualities, and won the cordial encomiums of
both inferiors and superiors.
During the earlier part of the night, there was constant picketfiring, and from time to time heavy artillery firing, shells from our
batteries passing over the heads of our men.  Stonewall Jackson,
while moving along his skirmish line, was mortally wounded nearly
in front of the line of the Third Brigade-dying eight days afterwards.  From midnight until about four o'clock on the morning of
the 3d, there was comparative quiet, but with the break of day the
firing was resumed, and soon the enemy pushed forward in heavy
columns to the attack, infesting our whole front with sharpshooters,
but directing his most violent assaults against the position held by




324            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
the Twelfth and Third Corps. At this time the Thirteenth was
supporting the Twenty-seventh Indiana, one of the regiments of
the brigade, and was peculiarly exposed. Subsequently, the ammunition of the Second Massachusetts being exhausted, the Thirteenth
was advanced to its relief, occupying its position for some two
hours, and fighting with the greatest desperation throughout, in the
face of a storm of missiles that would have appalled less resolute
men.  During this time, the rebels in front of the regiment were
relieved three different times, thus keeping fresh men constantly in
line. Many of our men, meanwhile, had exhausted their ammunition, and in some cases were only supplied from the cartridge-boxes
of the killed, the officers gathering up all within reach, and so
enabling the line to keep up its fire. About eight o'clock, having
suffered severely, the regiment was relieved and rejoined its brigade
in the rear.4  But it had again shown that it was made of royal
stuff. The loss of the regiment in killed and wounded during the
three days' fighting was scme one hundred and thirty, being nearly
one-half the number taken into battle. Among the wounded were
Major Grimes, shot in the thigh; Adjutant T. B. Smith, shot in the
arm; Second Lieutenant George G. Whitfield, of Company D, who
afterwards died; First Lieutenant James F. Layton, of Company
G; Captain Charles H. Bliven, of Company H; Captain Ambrose
Matthews, of Company I.  During the height of the action,
the regiment occupied a peculiarly-exposed position, but the men
and most of the officers carried themselves with the utmost gallantry
and coolness-repelling the furious assaults of Stonewall Jackson's
veteran troops in every instance, and even advancing our line a
considerable distance. In this advance, the regiment took a small
number of prisoners.  When ordered to retire, the men moved up
towards the Chancellor House, in full range of a rebel battery,
whose missiles wounded a number, but did not in the least demoralize the command.  After joining the brigade, the regiment moved
with it about two miles towards United States Ford, where its
4 The regiment by which the Thirteenth was relieved soon after gave way, being
unable to hold the position which the Jerseymen had successfully maintained against
all comers.




THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT.                 325
ammunition was replenished, when, having rested, it again marched
to the front and formed in anticipation of an attack from the enemy.
Shortly after noon, however, the firing ceased, and the regiment
was not again engaged-the corps, late in the evening, moving to a
new line which had been entrenched by the Eleventh Corps. IHere
the Thirteenth occupied the extreme left of the line at Scott's Dam,
on the Rappahannock. The breastworks not being finished, the
men were obliged to complete them during the night and following
day. In the meantime, heavy firing was going on below, which
was continued during the day and night, signaling the attack by
the enemy, in the vicinity of Fredericksburg, upon General Sedgwick, who, being driven back, Hooker determined to re-cross the
river, which he did on the night of the 5th, the entire army being
on the north side on the following morning. During this movement, a steady rain poured down upon the toiling army, but the
men moved wearily on through mud and water, and at night
encamped in position-the Thirteenth occupying the familiar camp
at Stafford Court House.  Thus ended the Chancellorsville campaign.
After some suffering, incident to the disastrous nature of the
campaign, the Thirteenth was re-clothed and supplied with necessary comforts, and fell once more into the routine duty of the camp.
Meanwhile, Lee had moved to the Upper Potomac, menacing Maryland and Pennsylvania, and on the 13th of June, Hooker put his
columns also in motion.  Marching by way of Dumfries, Drainsville and Leesburg, (where it rendered important service in
constructing works,) to Edwards Ferry, the Thirteenth crossed the
Potomac at that point on the 26th, and pushing forward with the
corps, reached Gettysburg July 1st. Fighting had already commenced, and our troops as they came up, were hurriedly placed in
position, the Twelfth Corps holding the extreme right, facing
Johnson's Division of Ewell's Corps. During the night, the Third
Brigade threw up breastworks, and in other ways prepared for the
conflict. At four o'clock in the afternoon, the enemy moved in
strong force against Sickles on the left, and a sanguinary struggle
ensued, Longstreet struggling desperately to seize Round Top,




326            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
justly regarded as vital to the  maintenance of our position.
Sickles being sorely pressed, the Third Brigade cf the Twelfth
Corps was sent to his relief, but did not reach the first line before
the enemy gave way. The Thirteenth, however, lost a few men
wounded.  Meanwhile, Ewell had assailed our right wing in superior force, and upon returning to its original position, the regiment
found a part of the corps line of earthworks in possession of the
enemy. Darkness, however, coming on, active operations were
suspended, and the weary troops, flinging themselves upon the
ground sought in troubled sleep a renewal of vigor for the work
before them.
Day broke at last, and with its earliest light, the Twelfth Corps
pushed forward to retake its lost rifle pits, which, after a sharp
conflict, was successfully accomplished, and the line re-established.
From  this time until one o'clock, there was comparative quiet,
broken only now  and then by firing here and there, while the
enemy was making his dispositions, and posting his batteries for the
final struggle. At length, at the hour named, the signal was given,
and one hundred and fifteen guns opened upon our position, over
one hundred guns from our side making prompt reply. Of all the
artillery duels of the war, this was the grandest. For nearly two
hours, the combat deepened and thundered along the hills, until
at last, all their preparations complete, the rebel infantry swept out
from behind their batteries, and in long lines moved to the assault
of Cemetery Hill.  Then ensued a conflict which no pen can
describe; a conflict so terrific, so grand in its displays of heroism,
so matchless in the stubborn tenacity with which loyal and rebel
alike clung to thecoveted position, that only those who saw it, or
were participants in it, can ever appreciate its intensity or sublimity.
The Thirteenth-its splendid fighting qualities being now universally recognized-was again  placed, with  Colonel Carman in
command, in a peculiarly-exposed position, but though on duty for
fourteen hours, fortunately only lost twenty-one men-one killed and
twenty wounded. Among the wounded were Captains Ryerson and
Arey, and Acting Adjutant C. W. Johnson.  Henry Downing, of
Company G, the only member of the regiment killed, was buried




THIE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT.                 3 7
within our entrenchments. Later in the day, the rebel attack having
failed, the regiment was sent to the right, with two others, to support
a cavalry reconnoissance, but did not become engaged.  On the
morning of the 4th, the enemy having withdrawn, the Thirteenth
returned to its former position in line, where it remained until the
7th, when it joined in the pursuit, reaching John's Cross Roads,
near Hagerstown, on the 11th. Here it remained until the 13th,
when, the rebels having hurried across the Potomac with a loss of
one thousand five hundred prisoners, the advance was resumed;
marching to Sandy Hook, the river was crossed on the 19th, and
the pursuit continued around the Blue Ridge, and thence into the
Loudon Valley-the regiment encamping at Snickerville, where it
remained until the 23d. Thence it moved to Warrenton Junction,
going thence to Kelley's Ford, on the Rappahannock, where, on
the 31st, a campaign of seven weeks, in which the men had marched
four hundred miles and helped to fight the decisive battle of the
war, was happily terminated.
The regiment remained at this place for several weeks, being
employed in picket and guard duty, with daily drills, &c. On the
15th of August, three regiments of the brigade (Second Massachusetts, Third Wisconsin and Twenty Seventh Indiana,) were sent to
the city of New York, to support the authorities in their efforts to
suppress the draft riots.  General Ruger, brigade commander,
accompanying these troops, the command of the remainder of the
brigade devolved upon Colonel Carman, Captain Beardsley commanding the Thirteenth. On the 15th, General Meade having determined to assail the enemy at Culpepper Court House, our army
crossed the Rappahannock-the Thirteenth crossing at Kelley's
Ford, and marching to Raccoon Ford on the Rapidan, where it encamped in the woods.  Here its pickets were posted near the river,
in a position of great danger, being almost immediately under the
guns of the enemy, stationed in a fort on the south side of the river,
and exposed also to his infantry fire. Picket-firing, however, soon
ceased, both armies desisting from this very unnecessary and murderous style of warfare. But the Thirteenth had fought its last
battle with the Army of the Potomac.  While General Meade was




328              NEW  JEEPEY  AND THE REBELLION.
preparing to cross the Rapidan, orders were received to detach the
Eleventh and Twelfth Corps, under Hooker, for service'in  Tennessee, and on the 24th of September, breaking camp, the Thirteenth
marched out with its corps, going to Bealton Station, whence,5 on
the 29th, taking cars, it proceeded through West Virginia, Ohio,
Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee to Stevenson, Alabama, reaching
that place October 4tb, having in seven days and nights traveled
a distance of one thousand one hundred miles.  The duty now
assigned the corps, was that of keeping open the long line of communications, over which the supplies of our army at Chattanooga,
were carried, and the troops soon became busily engaged, moving
from place to place, endeavoring to clear the railroad of obstructions, and catch the rebels who were destroying it. Moving on
the 10th, to  Tullahoma, Tennessee, a regular guard  from  the
Thirteenth  was established  on  the Nashville  and  Chattanooga
road, but soon after, after various marches and countermarches, the
regiment was ordered to a point near Normandy, where the men
at once proceeded to make themselves comfortable. While here,
Rev. Samuel C. Hay was elected Chaplain of the regiment, Rev.
Mr. Beck having resigned some months previously. On the 15th
5 The following extract from the diary of an officer of the regiment relates to this
transfer:
" Sunday, September 27th. We were loaded in cars and bid farewell to the scenes
of our army experience in Virginia-farewell to the noble Army of the Potomac-the
most gallant of the Republic.
"September 28th. We passed through Alexandria and Washington and the Relay
House over the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, through Harper's Ferry, Martinsburg,
Hancock, Cumberland, Altamont, Grafton, and left the train when we reached (September 29th) the Ohio River, and marched across on a pontoon bridge at Bellair on
the following morning.
" September 30th. Before daylight we started on the Ohio Central Railroad, passed
through Cambridge, Zanesville and Columbus; thence by Columbus and Xenia
Railroad to Xenia, and thence by Xenia, Dayton and Western Railroad to Richmond;
(October 1st,) thence by Indiana Central Railroad to Indianapolis. During the trip
through Ohio-particularly at Dayton and Xenia-the soldiers were feasted to all the
good things the country afforded, at the hands of many of Ohio's lovely daughters.
We left Indianapolis in the evening on the Jeffersonville Railroad, and in thtmorning
of October 2d, we reached Jeffersonville on the Ohio, crossed in a ferr-boat to
Louisville, Kentucky; thence through the State and the State of Tennessee, passing
through Nashville during the night, and after changing cars (October 3d,) moved on
to Stevenson, Alabama, passing through the Stone River battle-field, where we left the
cars (October 4th,) on Sunday morning, after seven days and nights travel in the cars
and a journey of one thousand one hundred miles."




THE  THIRTEENTH  REGIMENT.                          329
of December, Lieutenant-Colonel Grimes rejoined the regiment,
and shortly after, Captain George A. Beardsley was appointed Major,
Lieutenant Pierson being promoted to the command of Company D,
in  place  of Beardsley, promoted.  Captain Van Rensselear was
about the same time commissioned Major of the Third New  Jersey
Cavalry, Lieutenant Miller being made Captain of Company A.
Late in December, the regiment was divided, Company  F  being
located some two miles from the others. And now settling into
winter-quarters, the regiment enjoyed a season of comparative rest,
interrupted only by occasional expeditions into the surrounding
country, in which important service was performed.6 Early in
6 The following extract from the notes of an officer of the regiment shows its daily
movements during this period:
"November 12th. We found on reaching this department that there was a considerable feeling of contempt for soldiers of the'Army of the Potomac.' They considered us' band-box' soldiers; taunted the men for wearing' white collars,' and they
seemed to have the impression that the Eastern army could not fight because it had
not defeated Lee on every occasion. Had they been met by the same men at the West
as at the East, that army would have learned a different mode of fighting or been
annihilated. At the battle of Chickamauga they had a taste of Lee's army. The
difference is mainly in discipline, and is apparent in every department in the
appearance of the men, the want of respect for officers-but especially the disposition
of every man to rely upon himself and choose his own course of action,.which course
renders an army in battle weak. It was not long, however, before they came to respect
us as representatives of the Eastern army. (Hooker's Twentieth (Star) Corps was
afterwards the pride of that army.)
"November 26th. Thanksgiving Day has come again, but there is no thanksgiving
dinner for us. Our men have been amused by a target excursion to the other side
of the river. Each company selected five men to shoot for the prizes which had been
offered for the best target made by any company, firing at the distance of fifty, one
hundred and one hundred and fifty yards, and for the best shot at two hundred yards.
Company H received the first prize, and Sergeant Cramer the other. Then we had
a rabbit race, a pig race and a foot race by the men; and that, together with music
and dancing, finished up the day.
"December 25th-Christmas-the men have been having a very pleasant time.
The officers had contributed a sufficient amount to provide a fine dinner of turkeys,
chickens, roast pigs, beef, &c. Tables were built on the parade-ground that accommodated the whole regiment at once. How they did enjoy it! Many citizens were
present, and enjoyed the merry time. The boys had a concert in the evening with
singing and dancing.
"January 1, 1864. The regiment has settled into winter-quarters. The weather is
very cold. The men are doing guard and picket duty, protecting the bridge, patroling the railroad-which is the only means of supply to the front. We are building,
in addition to other duties, a large fort. The duties are severe, and the position
responsible, and only reliable troops have been placed in these independent positions.
The men are drilled daily; officers have recitations twice a week. No change in the
situation of things until
"January 19th, when three companies, under command of Captain Harris, senior
Captain, were ordered to start at three o'clock, a. m., to report at Tullahoma as early
42




330               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLtION.
April, the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps having been united under
General Hooker, preparations for a movement were ordered, and on
the 26th, the command again moved out towards the enemy. General Sherman had now been placed in command of all the troops
in the Military Division of the Mississippi, and the memorable
campaign against Atlanta was about to begin.  The Thirteenth,
marching to Decatur, Alabama, proceeded along the summit of the
Cumberland  range of  mountains, some sixteen  miles, when  it
descended into Battle Creek Valley, and advanced to Bridgeport,
Alabama, thence proceeding through Lookout Valley, by way of
Rossville and Anderson, Georgia, to Ringgold, reaching the latter
place on the 7th of May.  At this time, the rebel army under
Johnston was posted at Dalton, its position being covered by
an impassable mountain, known as "Rocky Face Ridge," and our
army not being able to traverse the only gap, (Buzzard's Roost,)
as possible. The night was dark and rainy, and the traveling difficult. We reached
our destination at eight o'clock, a. m. As three companies of the One Hundred and
Fiftieth New York Regiment, who were to accompany us, did not arrive that day, we
were obliged to bivouac for the night. Next morning,
"January 20th, we were joined by the detachment of the One Hundred and Fiftieth
New York, and Major Beardsley, who took command of the whole detachment, when
we marched twelve miles in a southwesterly direction to the small village of LynchbuTg. Ilere ourmenfound quarters in the deserted houses of the town. The next day,
"January 21st, we moved forward, in the same direction, about eight miles to
Mulberry, Lincoln County, Tennessee, which was our destination. Our men were
quartered in the unoccupied store-houses and a church. We are in the midst of one
of the finest and most fertile portions of the South. The people are very intelligent,
but are as intensely secesh as any we have ever met. It was this county that proposed
to secede from the State of Tennessee if the State did not secede from the Union.
The richness of the county makes it a fine field for foraging. On one occasion when a
wagon train was in this vicinity collecting forage, one of the wagons and its guard became detached from the rest of the train. A party of guerrillas overtook it, burned the
wagon, and took Lieutenant Porter and four men of the Twenty-seventh Regiment
Indiana Volunteers with the driver. They were taken about seven miles, and at a
point near Mulberry, in the darkness of the night, they had their hands tied behind
their backs, in order, as they said, that they might be more easily retained; but they
were immediately placed in a line, and without the least intimation of what was to be
their fate, they heard the order, aim! fire! and three fell dpad. The Lieutenant was
slightly wounded but escaped with one of the other men. General Thomas, commanding
the Department of the Cumberland, upon learning the facts, ordered a detachment to go
to Mulberry and protect Colonel John II. Ketchum, of the One Hundred and Fiftieth
New York Regiment, in collecting from the inhabitants within ten miles of this point
thirty thousand dollars, to be equally divided among the families of the men murdered
by the guerrillas. We are now engaged in that business. The assessment is made by
the direction of the Colonel. Many claim exemption because they took the oath of
allegiance when Rosencrans passed though this country; but they declare (with the
usual consistency of these people) that they are hoping and praying for the success




THE THIRTEENTH  REGIMENT.                           331
General Thomas, with the Army of the Cumberland, was directed to
menace and assail the position in front, while McPherson, with the
Army of the Tennessee, should flank the enemy's left, and, moving
down by various gaps, seize Resaca, or some other post well in its
rear-Schofield, meanwhile, pressing on Johnston's right. These
orders were promptly carried out, McPherson reaching the front of
Resaca, but subsequently falling back to a strong position in Snake
Creek Gap, whereupon Sherman (on the 10th) moved forward the
Twentieth  Corps to that point.  Here the  Thirteenth  remained
until the 13th, when, with the army, it advanced towards Resaca,
~the enemy  slowly  retiring.  Late  in  the  afternoon, the rebels
making heavy demonstrations on the extreme left of the line, the
Third Brigade was moved rapidly in that direction, arriving just in
time to meet the enemy who was charging upon a battery, which
had been deserted by its infantry support.  The timely appearance
of the confederacy. The principal business is receiving the cotton and other articles
that are brought in payment, and foraging tor our own use.  A large portion of the
assessment is being paid in greenbacks. We have had preaching on the Sundays we
have been here.
"February 2d. The resignation of Doctor J. J. II. Love has been accepted, and
to-day he leaves Division Headquarters, where he has been for a long time detailed as
Surgeon-in-Chief, and where he has become very popular, with the regrets of the
officers.
"February 11th. The detachment left Mulberry and returned to Tullahoma, with a
large quantity of cotton, being part of the collections we had made. The inhabitants
seemed to regret our departure, as our men had conducted themselves in a very
proper manner.  The detachment of our regiment was expected to return to the
regiment, which had not moved from Duck River Bridge, and which was then under
command of Lieutenant-Colonel Grimes-Colonel Carman having been detailed as
presiding officer of a court-martial and military commission sitting at Tullahoma; but
owing to the fact that a large portion of the Twenty-seventh Indiana Regiment had
gone home on veteran furloughs, the three companies of our regiment were left at
Tullahoma (under command of Captain Harris,) doing picket and guard duty, and
occupying a part of the camp of the Twenty-seventh Indiana.  Chaplain Hay has
resigned his position owing to ill-health. He started for the regiment, was taken sick
at Chicago, and resigned.
" February 12th. The regiment has again been united. Recruits are from time to
time being received. We are frequently hearing of rebel depredations on the railroad,
and are, therefore, constantly on the alert.
"February 16th.  About forty guerrillas tore up the track, two miles below
Tullahoma, and after the train had run off the track fired into it and killed six men
and then left suddenly.
"April 6th. Major G. A. Beardsley having resigned his commission, which has been
accepted, left the regiment to-day for home. Rev. Mr. Hyde, a member of the regiment, was elected Chaplain, but his commission was never received. Captain Ryerson has been promoted to Major."




332            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
of the Thirteenth, however, upon the scene, arrested the progress of
the assailants, and the battery was rescued. Darkness coming on,
the advantage was not pressed; in the morning, however, it was
found that the enemy had disappeared from our front, and our line
was advanced, the Second Division of the Twentieth Corps presently coming up with and driving the rebels.  The Thirteenth
continued to advance by the flank from time to time, as the enemy
gave way in front of that division, keeping to the left of the rebel
line of battle, until at length, the latter offering more serious opposition, it was formed for a charge on the brow of a hill, and soon
after advanced in fine order, moving across a plain of perhaps half*
a mile in width, exposed to the fire of a rebel fort, and reaching,
finally, a hill beyond. Here a breastwork of rails was hastily constructed, the skirmishers in front being heavily engaged, but before
the work was completed, the latter were driven in by heavy masses
of the enemy, who, finding that our position flanked his line, at
once made a desperate attack upon it.  For two hours the conflict
raged with the greatest fury, the assailants seeking in vain to pierce
our lines, and being compelled at last to fall back with heavy loss.
The men of the Thirteenth fought with great steadiness throughout,
and the loss, considering the severity of the fighting, was much
less than might have been expected, amounting to four killed and
twenty-three wounded.  Had not the regiment fortunately thrown
up breastworks the loss must have been much greater.7 The enemy
having been repulsed, the regiment was relieved, but no further
attack was made on that part of the line, and upon the advance of
the skirmishers, on the following morning, it was found that
Johnston had withdrawn his whole force across the Oostanaula.
Pushing forward in pursuit, the Twentieth Corps, on the 16th, came
up with the enemy posted in fortifications, built upon the hills
south of Cassville, where the skirmishers of the Thirteenth again
became engaged, but without any serious loss.  The enemy again
retreating, our forces, after receiving supplies, on the 20th moved
7 A letter to the Newark Advertiser says of this engagement: "Johnston, it is said,
had sworn to break our lines at this point or perish in the attempt. He failed, though
the loss was great on both sides."




THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT.                 333
to and across the Etowah River, thence advancing by different
roads, in the direction of Dallas. On the 25th, moving on the main
Dallas road, Hooker's Corps (the Twentieth) encountered the enemy
in force, who at once attacking his Second Division (General Geary,)
with great fury, inflicted considerable loss. The First Division was
thereupon ordered to the left, to reinforce Geary, the Thirteenth
Regiment being, by order of General Hooker, deployed on the right
of the line as skirmishers, and soon driving in that part of the
enemy's line, with a loss of only six men wounded, including Lieute,
nant-Colonel Grimes and Lieutenant George Baitzel, of Company C
the former wounded in the hand, and the latter in the left arm.
The loss of the brigade, which was exposed to a murderous fire
from the rebel artillery, was very heavy. During the evening, the
Thirteenth was formed on the right of the brigade in line of battle,
and was engaged in building breastworks until the following morning, when it was relieved and passed to the rear.  This battle
although known as the battle of Dallas, was really fought near the
line of Pumpkin Vine Creek, about thirty miles from Atlanta.
Here the Thirteenth remained for several days, Sherman concentrating his forces, preparatory to a formidable demonstration, several encounters taking place while his dispositions were making,
but without any important result. On the night of the 29th, an
attack was made on our line at the right of the position held by the
Thirteenth, but the regiment did not become engaged, two men,
however, being wounded by scattering balls.
At length, on the 1st of June, Sherman having determined to
work towards our left, with a view of flanking the enemy, the
Thirteenth moved in that direction, reaching a position about five
miles from Ackworth, on the 7th. Ackworth is a railway station,
about sixteen miles south of Kingston, and a short distance from
Altoona, already abandoned by the enemy. Our line of battle now
ran east and west, facing the south, with the left extending to the
railroad.  The country is hilly and well adapted for defense, so
that the advance against the enemy was expected to be one of great
difficulty. Skirmishing was kept up constantly with the enemy,
whose line extended from Kenesaw Mountain on his right, west to




334            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Lost Mountain on his left, covering the intermediate Pine Knob;
but no marked advantages were gained on either side.  On the
16th and 17th, the Thirteenth was pushed steadily forward, fighting
the enemy as it advanced, and losing several men, including Lieutenant Peter M. Ryerson, of Company C, who was mortally wounded
on the 16th.  Lieutenant Ryerson came of fighting stock, being
the son of Major Ryerson, of the Eighth Regiment, who fell at
Williamsburg, and though only about twenty-two years of age,
had made his mark as a superior soldier.s By this time, Sherman
had projected the greater part of his force against the enemy, who,
thus menaced by the Thirteenth and other bodies of troops, had
abandoned Pine Mountain and taken position along the line of the
rugged hills connecting Kenesaw and Lost Mountains. On the 17th
under the pressure of our movements, Lost Mountain was abandoned.
Our troops still pushing on, skirmishing in dense forests of timber,
and across most difficult ravines, on the 19th again found the enemy
strongly posted and entrenched, his right wing thrown back to
cover Marietta, the center resting on Kenesaw Mountain, and the
left across the Lost Mountain and Marietta road, and covering the
railroad track back to the Chattahoochee. Gradually working into
position, our forces (on the 22d) came into collision with the rebels
some five miles from Kenesaw, where the Thirteenth, while engaged
in throwing up breastworks on the edge of a woods, with an open
field in front, was suddenly assailed, its skirmishers being driven
in, and the enemy, under Hood, heavily massed in several lines of
battle, pushing forward over the cleared space.9  Coolly reserving
its fire until the menacing column had fairly cleared the woods,
only three hundred yards distant, the Thirteenth then opened upon
it with destructive fury, staggering the advance, and presently
causing it to give way and fall back. But promptly rallied by their
officers, the rebels again advanced, only to receive another withering volley, from which they hastily turned and retreated in disor8 The entire loss of the regiment in these operations was two killed and six
wounded.
9 This assailing column consisted of Hindman's and Stevenson's Divisions of Hood's
Corps.




THE THIRTEENrTH REGIMENT.               835
der, leaving many killed and wounded on the field. The fighting,
however, was not yet done; posting himself in the shelter of
some trees and underbrush which lined a brook near the center of
the opening, the enemy presently again opened fire upon our lines,
keeping it up for two hours, when, having suffered heavily, he
finally retired-a few, however, coming in and giving themselves
up as prisoners. During this engagement, the regiment was under
command of Captain Harris, Colonel Carman being division fieldofficer, and the Lieutenant-Colonel absent wounded. Sheltered by
its hastily-constructed breastworks, the regiment escaped without
the loss of a single man killed, while only six were wounded.
After the engagement —known as the battle of Kulp's Farm-the
picket line was re-established, and the men lay on their arms during
the night, holding an advanced position. Here the regiment remained until the 27th: when, an assault of the enemy's position
having been ordered, it was moved to the left to support a battery
and take the place of troops who were to participate in the assault.
This assault having failed, Sherman again ordered a flanking movement, and on the 2d of July, the enemy having abandoned Kenesaw, the Thirteenth (with its corps) moved to and through Marietta
towards the Chattahoochee River, reaching its position in the right
center of the army on the 7th. Here it remained until the 17th,' 
when a general advance being ordered, the corps crossed the Chattahoochee, bivouacking for the night near Buckhead.  On the following morning, the Thirteenth, with the Eighty-second Regiment
Ohio Volunteers, under command of Colonel Carman, proceeded on
a reconnoissance, the object of which was to find the Fourth Corps
and capture a party of rebel cavalry who were said to be stationed
between the two corps. The position of the Fourth Corps was
easily ascertalied, but the cavalry had disappeared; they were,
however, pursued, and being overtaken a lively skirmish ensued,
resulting in their being driven with considerable loss, though they
held a strong position. The Thirteenth had two men killed.
Moving forward from this point, the corps on the 19th, crossed
Peach Tree Creek, where on the 20th, the enemy suddenly attacked
10 On this day Major Ryerson, who had tendered his resignation, left the regiment.




8356 3NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLIOiN.
our lines in heavy force, but was twice repulsed, with great slaughter. In this engagement, the Thirteenth lost six men.  On the'22d,
it was found that the rebels had abandoned the line of Peach Tree
Creek, and fallen back to a strong line of redoubts, forming the
immediate defences of Atlanta, and covering all the approaches to
that town-whereupon our whole army prepared to close in upon
the doomed position, the Thirteenth, which had acted as a support
to the skirmishers in the advance, taking position on a hill about
five hundred yards from the rebel line of works.  Here, while constructing a frail breastwork, it was opened upon by a rebel battery,
the shells from which exploded in dangerous proximity, but the
position being an important one, about three miles from the center
of Atlanta, it was tenaciously held until other troops came up, and
the men were relieved."  One man was wounded by the rebel fire,
and Captain Harris was somewhat stunned by a shell which exploded near him. Upon being relieved, the regiment moved a short
distance to the right, its right flank resting on the road leading from
Marietta to Atlanta, but was soon after again shifted to the left.
On the 27th, it was once more selected for important special duty.
There being some irregularities in the line, which it was desirable
to straighten, it was ordered that one regiment should be selected
from each division along the entire line to unite in a demonstration
upon the enemy, under cover of which the necessary work should
be accomplished, and the position of the rebel forts at the same time
developed. The Thirteenth was selected from the First Division
for this duty, being ordered also to burn several houses in its front,
from  which the enemy kept up an annoying fire.  Advancing
steadily to its task, the regiment, although exposed to the fire of a
fort only one hundred yards distant, succeeded in destroying the
buildings, and then, with a loss of two killed andlsix wounded,
retired in good style, bringing in thirty-three prisoners, captured
on the rebel picket line. The loss of the enemy in killed and
wounded was also considerable, and the regiment was warmly complimented for its exploits at division headquarters.'2  On the 28th,
11 The entrenched line of battle was not advanced at any time during the campaign
beyond the position held by the regiment in this engagement.
12 On the 27th Sebastian Duncan, Jr., was, mustered in as First Lieutenant of Com



THE THIRTEENTI-I REGIMENT.                337
Hood violently assailed the Army of the Tennessee, now commanded by General Howard, but was repulsed with great loss, and
on the 30th the Thirteenth was again advanced, capturing some
sixty prisoners, and taking position close to the rebel works, where
breastworks were thrown up, a portion of the men keeping up a
steady fire on the enemy, while the entrenchments were being constructed.  After firmly establishing the new line, the regiment,
being relieved, returned to its old position, where it remained until
the 25th of August. During this time, it was constantly exposed
to the fire of the rebel forts, but the loss was comparatively small.
On the 16th of August, Captain Harris was commissioned as Major,
Lieutenant Johnson taking command of Company E. Meanwhile,
Sherman hat gradually extended his right, and his entrenched line
now reached nearly to East Point, commanding the railroads by
which Atlanta must receive its supplies. Hood, not liking the
look of things, early in August, dispatched his cavalry to our rear,
where they broke the railroad, and did other damage, whereupon Sherman, glad of the opportunity, sent Kilpatrick on a " raid"
south and east of Atlanta, the movement resulting in the complete
destruction of the railroad at various points, and great consequent
demoralization of the enemy, whose supplies were already running
low.  This done, Sherman ordered the seige to be abandoned,
sending back the sick, wounded and surplus stores to his entrenched
position on the Chattahoochee, which the Twentieth Corps was left
to cover, while the rest of the army moved by the right southward-getting fairly behind Atlanta before Hood knew what was
going on. The movement of the Twentieth Corps to the rear was
commenced on the 25th of August, the Thirteenth Regiment on
that day marching five miles, and on the day following, taking
possession of some abandoned rebel works. Here it was expected
that Hood would offer battle, and the works were strengthened as
rapidly as possible, but that commander did not risk an assault.
On the 1st of September, a reconnoissance by the Thirteenth and
pany E. About the same time, General Hooker having, at his own request, been
relieved of the command of the corps, General Williams of the First Division was
placed in command.
43




3888           NEW JERSEY AND TIE REBELLtOS.
two other regiments, all under command of Colonel Carman, in the
direction of Atlanta, developed the fact that the rebels were still
there, and a large force (some two brigades, with four pieces of
artillery,) being sent out to menace the reconnoitering column, it
returned without a collision. On the following morning, having
destroyed his magazines and burned his stores, Hood hastily evacuated the city, and about noon the Thirteenth again advanced,
entering the town just before dark, with bands playing, colors
flying, and a storm of cheers. Passing through the city, the regiment encamped near the breastworks of the rebels, on its east side,
near the Georgia Railroad"-moving next day a short distance to
the left, where it discovered the debris of ninety car-loads of arms,
ammunition, camp equipage and other valuable property, which
had been destroyed by the rebels.  The campaign was now at an
end; for the first time in four months the regiment was out of
the range of hostile batteries; and the men prepared eagerly to
enjoy the rest to which they were so fairly entitled. The entire loss
of the regiment in the campaign, was about one hundred killed
and wounded.
During the month of September, the Thirteenth was chiefly engaged in picket duty, and in working on a new line of entrenchments.  Meanwhile, raiding parties of the enemy were operating
in our rear; and on the 25th, Hood having pushed up with the
bulk of his troops to Dallas, Sherman impelled the Fourth Corps in
pursuit, the Fifteenth and other corps speedily following. During
the following fortnight, various engagements were had, and Hood
being checkmated at all points, finally moved into Tennessee,
whither he was followed by the Fourth and Twenty-Third corps,
while the rest of our army again turned its face southward, concentrating finally about Atlanta, where Sherman at once began to
prepare for the Great March to the Sea.
The Thirteenth had not been idle while these operations were in
progress. On the 5th of October, moving to the left, it took position near the Sandtown road, whence it moved on the 11th,
13 At this time Lieutenant-Colonel Grimes resigned, and Major Harris and Lieutenant
Johnson were mustered in from this date.




THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT.                  339
with three other regiments of the brigade, and one brigade of the
Second Division, as a guard to a train of six hundred wagons. In
this movement, the brigade was commanded by Colonel Carman,
the regiment by Major Harris, and the whole expeditionary force,
which also included a battery of artillery and six hundred cavalrymen, by General Geary. The object of the expedition was to
gather forage, of which there was great scarcity in the army. Proceeding some twenty miles, the force, on the 12th, crossed South
River at Clark's Mills, gathering, guarding and loading the train
with corn, wheat and cotton, and on the 13th having filled all the
wagons, set out on its return, having escaped all loss, though constantly surrounded by rebel cavalry. On the 22d, a report having
reached camp that a supply train had been attacked, the Thirteenth
was marched to its relief, but finding the rumor false, returned on
the 24th, and resumed ordinary camp duties. On the 6th of November, General Ruger was placed in command of a division in the
Twenty-Third Corps, and Colonel Carman assigned to the command
of the brigade-Major Harris, as senior, taking charge of the
regiment.  About this time, a considerable number of recruits
were added to the regiment.
On the 15th of November, having two days previously torn up
and destroyed the railroad between Atlanta and Chattahoochee
River, the regiment cut loose fiom its base, and with the army
started on the Savannah campaign-marching some nineteen miles,
in an southeasterly direction, along the Atlanta and Augusta Railroad, and encamping near the foot of Stone Mountain, in De Kalb
County. The army, in this movement, was divided into two grand
divisions, or wings, the left (Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps) under
General Slocum, taking the most northerly route, and the right
(Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps,) under General Howard, with the
cavalry under General Kilpatrick.'" Advancing day by day, the
regiment reached Milledgeville, the Capital of the State, on the
22d, where, the members of the Legislature having fled, Union
officers the next day organized a legislative body in the State
14 The Twentieth Corps was commanded by General Williams, the First Division by
General Jackson, and the Second Brigade by Colonel Carman.




340              NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
House, and adopted resolutions declaring that the State had never
been out of the Union, and that all ordinances to that effect were
null and void.  On the 24th, the march was resumed and  continued without serious interruption until the 26th. On that day
the Thirteenth had the right of the division and the advance of
the infantry, the Ninth Illinois Cavalry being the advance guard.
During the forenoon, the cavalry were driven in by the enemy,
when Major Harris deployed six companies of the Thirteenth as
skirmishers, (four companies being held in reserve as supports,)
and these rapidly moving forward, soon reached a creek, the bridge
over which had been destroyed, and the creek, for a long distance
either way, made unfordable for cavalry, by obstructions of timber
felled for that purpose. The cavalry of the enemy, moreover, dismounting, had thrown up breastworks on a hill on the opposite
bank, rendering their position in every respect a strong one.  The
men of the Thirteenth, however, promptly crossing the stream,
charged up the hill, and although the firing was very rapid, soon
drove the rebels from their works in splendid style, pursuing them
for a considerable distance —the whole regiment being now  deployed-skirmishing heavily the whole distance, and entering the
town of Sandersville in advance of the Fourteenth Corps. The
regiment, which had three men wounded, one only slightly, was
very highly complimented for its action in this affair.l5  Major
Nichols, of General Sherman's Staff, in his "Story of the Great
March," (pages 64 and 65,) refers to this action as follows: " The
passage of Buffalo Creek, was also contested by the rebel cavalry,
under Wheeler, and they fought our front all the way, and into
1 Colonel Carman's report of the action of the brigade in this affair says:
" November 26. The brigade had the advance, moved out of camp at half-past six
o'clock, a. m., and after marching two miles, the Ninth Illinois Cavalry in our front
encountered the enemy, who was posted on a small creek, the road through which
had been obstructed by fallen trees; the enemy were soon dislodged and pursued to
Sandersville, at which place they made a stand, driving back our cavalry. I then
deployed six companies of the Thirteenth New Jersey as skirmishers, with four companies in reserve, and advanced on them, the Ninth Illinois being disposed on the
flanks. The enemy gave way before my skirmishers, and I entered the town at the
same time as did the Fourteenth Corps, who came in on another road to the left.
Moving to the right, I followed the enemy through the town and one mile beyond,
skirmishing a little. My,loss was two men wounded, belonging to the Thirteenth
New Jersey."




THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT.                      341
the streets of Sandersville. The Twentieth Corps had the advance,
deploying a regiment as skirmishers, and forming the remainder of
a brigade in line of battle, on either side of the road.  The movement was executed in the handsomest manner, and was so effectual
as not to impede the march of the column in the slightest degree,
although the roll of musketry was unceasing." After driving the
rebels through the town, and pausing for two or three hours, the
regiment moved some four miles in a southerly direction to Tennille Station, No. 13, of the Georgia Railroad, skirmishing as it
advanced, and upon reaching the road, tearing up, burning and
destroying two miles of the track.  On the following day, (November 27th,) it marched to Davisborourgh, (being thirteen miles by
railroad, but eighteen by the route traveled,) where, after destroying
the track for a distance of nine miles, the division pushed on to
Spier's Station, No. 11.  From that point, it advanced, on the 29th,
some nine miles further, tearing up the track as far as the Ogeechee
River-the Thirteenth, in addition to destroying a portion of the
track, burning an immense lumber-yard, filled with bridge timber.
The stations on this road were small, and of little value, but the
loss to the enemy was considerable. The country for the most part
was swampy, flat and sandy, with many creeks, making marching
difficult, but the men, in the elation of success, were not affected by
any mere ordinary fatigue. Crossing the Ogeechee on the 30th,
the regiment on the 3d of December, marching as guard to a train,
reaching a point beyond Millen,6 whence it moved forward, day by
day, until on the 6th it reached a point fourteen miles northwest of
Savannah.  Here the rebels had stationed a small force, about three
hundred men, with one piece of artillery, in a fort, with swamps on
either side, which were considered a sure protection to the flanks of
G "Ai t Millen, about nine thousand of our men had been kept as prisoners, and seven
hundred and fifty had died. The prison-pen (Camp Lawton) is a stockade of logs about
twenty feet high, and enclosing some twenty-five acres, with sentry-boxes around the
whole about fifty yards apart. A small stream ran through the center of the enclosure,
and a fort was built near commanding the ground. Here our men were turned loose
without shelter (except the holes they were able to dig) from the scorching sun by day
and the heavy dews at night, or the storms and cold of winter, and with only scanty
provisions. The prisoners had all been removed a few days before our arrival." — ote
of an officer.




342            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
the position. The supposition, however, was by no means correct.
Dispositions were at once made for an attack, the Second Brigade
being sent to the right, and the First Brigade to the left. The
Thirteenth formed in line in the swamp, in water from one to two
feet deep, when, the order being given, the men advanced with a
yell in face of a fire from the rebel guns-the enemy soon evacuating the works, and escaping towards Savannah, only two or three
prisoners falling into our hands. These were claimed by the commanders of both brigades, the two having reached the fort simultaneously, but the Second Brigade having them  in possession,
kept them, not altogether in defiance of the practice in such cases.
On the following day, (10th,) the regiment resumed its march,
proceeding along the Monteith  Turnpike, until it struck the
Charleston and Savannah Railroad. Having destroyed the track
for some distance, it advanced some four miles further towards
Savannah, encamping five miles from the city, and one mile from
the rebel works-the regiment being posted in reserve, in the rear
of the One Iundred and Fiftieth New York, but moving the next
morning to the front line of battle, and with it (on the 12th,) moving forward towards the rebel defences, taking position between the
Monteith Pike and the Savannah River, near Pipemaker's Creek,
where, on the 13th, breastworks were built along the entire regimental front.  On the 16th, the regiment, with the rest of the
brigade, crossed the Savannah River in flat-boats to Argyle Island,
where it threw up earthworks on the northeast side of the island.
The object of this movement, in which two brigades in all participated, was to secure certain property on the island, and also to
make a reconnoissance of the South Carolina shore, with a view of
effecting a lodgment thereon, and, if possible, securing the Savannah and Charleston pike, and thus cutting off the retreat of the
rebel troops occupying the former city. The rebels, appreciating
the importance of holding the pike, had posted a battery on the
South Carolina shore, which promptly opened on our troops, and
had also stationed two or three gunboats in the river. Immediately
upon occupying the island, the Thirteenth set in operation a large
rice-mill, which it found on a plantation belonging to the heirs of




TItE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT.                 343
the Gibbons family, formerly of Morristown, New Jersey; but on
the 19th, it was again ordered to move, crossing to the South Carolina shore at daybreak, and effecting a landing near Izard's Mills,
whence it advanced, having the right of the line, and skirmishing
briskly to Beach Hill, where breastworks were thrown up. During
the afternoon, the other regiments of the brigade crossed to the
point occupied by the Thirteenth. The position now occupied by
the brigade was strong for defense, but, according to the report of
Colonel Carman, "the nature of the ground was such that an advance was difficult. It was a rice plantation, cut up by numerous
dykes and canals, and the enemy had burned all the bridges over
the latter, and overflowed the whole plantation to a depth of from
eight to eighteen inches of water, thus necessitating all movements
by the flank up these dykes, while they stood well prepared, at
these places, to resist our advance." During the night, two pieces
of artillery were brought across the river, and placed in position in
the center of the line, which, as then formed and held by the Second
Brigade, was two and a quarter miles long.  Earthworks were also
thrown up at all the prominent points, with a view of strengthening the position as much as possible. On the morning of the 20th,
twelve companies from the brigade, including three from the Thirteenth, were detailed to make a reconnoissance with a view of determining the position of Clysedale Creek with reference to our line.
The force succeeded in reaching the creek, with the loss of one man
killed, and after erecting works for one regiment, and posting
therein two companies of the Thirteenth, an effort was made to
strike the Savannah and Hardeesvile Road, but the enemy, anticipating the movement, had thrown a force in front, whereupon
Colonel Carman ordered the detachment to withdraw. It is believed
by some that had a resolute advance been made, the road could
have been seized and held, but the Colonel commanding was of
opinion that nothing less than a division could hold the position,
even if once seized, and his determination, of course, was final.
During the day, a great number of vehicles of all descriptions were
seen passing the front, but a short distance from the brigade line,
moving from Savannah to Hardeesville, and from shortly after dark




344            NEW  JERSEY ABt  THE REBELLION.
until three o'clock, a. m., of the 21st, the retreating army could
plainly be heard as they crossed the bridges from Savannah to the
South Carolina shore. The evacuation of the city was no doubt
hastened by the movement under Colonel Carman's command, but it
is still a question among those participating in it, whether the results
of the demonstration might not, under some circumstances, have
been much more complete and satisfactory. On the 21st, the enemy
in increased force, still holding his position in our front, the brigade,
under orders from the division commander, was re-crossed to Argyle
Island, and thence, on the following day, to the Georgia shore, the
Thirteenth at once marching to a point within the limits of Savannah, near which, on the 23d, it encamped in a live-oak grove-thus
terminating a march of over three hundred miles, and one of the
most remarkable campaigns on record, during which it had only
lost six men, three wounded, and three captured.
The regiment now remained comparatively idle, until the 14th
of January, 1865, when it was moved into the city for detached
service" and connected with a Provisional Brigade, under command
of Colonel Lockman, of the One Hundred and Nineteenth New
York Regiment-acting as guard at the grand depot of supplies
connected with the Quartermaster's Department. Four days after,
the regiment rejoined the brigade, and with the army turned its
face northward.  After performing duty as a train-guard, it moved
out (on the 27th,) on the Augusta pike, pushing forward day by
day, detached from its brigade, until February 10th, when it rejoined
its proper command. On the 17th, Columbia, South Carolina, was
reached, and on March 1st the regiment had its first skirmish with
the enemy near Chesterfield Court-House.  On the 11th, the command reached Fayetteville, North Carolina, whence, after a day's
rest, it again moved forward, reaching Averysborough on the 15th.ls
1, About this time, Colonel Carman obtained leave of absence, and Colonel Hawley,
of the Third Wisconsin Regiment, assumed command of the brigade-Major Harris
still commanding the Thirteenth.
18 The details of the march from Savannah northward are supplied in the following
notes, made at the time by an officer of the regiment:
"January 17th. The regiment joined the brigade, according to General Orders,
No. 8, passed through the city at nine o'clock, a. m., crossed over the pontoon bridge




THE THIRTEENTH  REGIMAENT.                           345
Here Kilpatrick, having met the enemy's infantry, was awaiting
support, and promptly at daylight on the 16th the Second Brigade
to Hutchinson Island; thence across that island, which is about half a mile wide;
thence across the main channel of the river on a pontoon bridge, one thousand eight
hundred feet, to Palmetto Island. The trains found it difficult to cross that island, the
recent rains making the roads in very bad condition, and being the last regiment of the
brigade, an order was received from Colonel Hawley that we should remain with the
brigade train, assist them over, and then come forward and join the brigade; to do which
it was necessary to corduroy the whole road. Before this train had passed, General
Jackson, commanding division, and General Williams, commanding corps, while passing,
ordered the regiment to remain at that point and assist the division and corps supply
and headquarter trains over the same point. These were expected the next day, and
the regiment was placed in camp on the South Carolina shore on the 18th; the
Fifteenth Corps train took the road first, but before they had passed this point the
storm had commenced, and it was impossible to move a train through the rice swamp
on these islands. The attempt was, therefore, abandoned.
"January 19th. Remained in camp on South Carolina shore, the storm unabated.
"January 20th.  Storm  continued-the freshet in the river is increasing-the
embankments on the South Carolina shore have given way in several places, and there
is doubt about the pontoon from Palmetto Island to the shore being able to stand.
Word was sent to General Slocum, commanding this army, of the situation, and he
ordered the regiment to return to the city and await orders, which it did on the afternoon of that day, and occupied its old camp in the city. Remained in camp on
Warren Square, the continued storm making it impossible to move the trains until
"January 27th.  Marched on Augusta pike, twelve miles, in  a northwesterly
direction, on the right bank of the Savannah River, as train-guard, and bivouacked
for the night.
"January 28th. Marched at seven o'clock, a. r.-roads very bad-guarding train
for seventeen miles on Augusta pike, parallel to Savannah River, then turned to the
left and took a middle ground road, on which we marched eight miles in a northwesterly direction, and bivouacked at eight o'clock, p. m., within three miles of
Springfield.
"January 29th. Marched twelve miles, to within four miles of Sister's Ferry, on
the Savannah River, and bivouacked for the night, having passed through Springfield.
The roads are almost impassable. We remained at this point until
" February 3d, when orders came to move, and we formed line and marched to the
road; but it was found to be impossible to move the train, and we returned to our
old camp.
"February 4th. Marched four miles to Lower Sister's Ferry, crossed the river on
a pontoon bridge into South Carolina; then marched seven miles northeast, to within
one mile of Robertsville, and bivouacked for the night.
"February 5th. Marched seven miles northwest, passing through Robertsville.
"February 6th. Marched fourteen miles northwest, passing through Lawtonville.
"February 7th. Marched five miles northwest, crossed Coosawatchie Swamp.
"February 8th. Marched thirteen miles northwest to Salkahatchie River, which we
crossed at Beaufort Bridge, and passed through evacuated works of the enemy.
"February 9th. Marched eighteen miles northwest, to within one mile of Blackville, a station on the Augusta and Carolina Railroad. At this point we found Corps
Headquarters. The Major, commanding regiment, reported to General Williams, and
requested to be returned to our own brigade and division. During the march from
Savannah to this point, we have been assisting the Second Division in guarding trains,
picket and guard duty.
"February 10th. Received orders from General Williams, commanding corps, to
rejoin our own brigade.  Marched to Blackville, thence six miles west along the
44




346                NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
was moved up in line of battle on the right and left of the Raleigh
road, cavalry protecting both flanks. The skirmishers soon became
Augusta and Charleston Railroad to Ninety-six Mile Turnout, where we found our
brigade, and we are once more at our military home in the Second Brigade, First
Division, still commanded by Colonel Hawley. General Kilpatrick, with his cavalry
command, is on our left, threatening Augusta, Georgia. The whole movement of the
army has been from the city of Savannah, on both sides of the river, to Sister's Ferry,
and thence on the north side of the river, threatening Augusta on the left, Charleston
on the right, destroying the railroad between. We leave the enemy concentrated in
each place, and now turn to the north, moving in the direction of Columbia, South
Carolina-having moved the trains in safety to this point.
"February 11th.  Crossed south fork of the Edisto River at Duncan's Bridge,
marching fifteen miles in a direction first east and then northwest.
"February 12th. Marched eleven miles north to within one and a half miles of the
north fork of the Edisto River.
"February 13th. Crossed the north fork of the Edisto River at Jephcoates Bridge,
marching ten miles north.
"February 14th. We are still in the sandy region, but find sufficient supplies.
Each regiment is sending out a forage party equal to about one company, who supply
the regiment with pork, sweet potatoes, flour and sorghum syrup. Captain Guyer has
been detailed to command our detachment-being an experienced officer and in every
respect reliable. We marched six miles north, when the regiment was put on picket
at Lexington Court House and Columbia Cross Roads while the corps train was passing; about four o'clock, p. In., we moved forward after the train, marched four miles
to camp for the night; we have had a severe, cold storm during the afternoon.
"February 15th. Marched at twelve o'clock, m., in northwesterly direction ten
miles, to within two miles of Lexington Court House, which we reached and bivouacked
at about twelve o'clock, midnight; the roads bad with clay soil.
"February 16th. Started at half-past seven o'clock, a. n., our division on the right
marching without trains, taking the road directly towards Columbia, leaving Lexington
Court House on our left; marched to within four miles of Columbia, crossing a railroad that had been projected and graded to connect Columbia, South Carolina, and
Augusta, Georgia. The right wing, between us and Columbia, shelled the city during
the afternoon; bivouacked after marching eleven miles.
" February 17th. Started at eight o'clock, a. d.; our regiment on the right of the
brigade, turned to the right, marched north four miles in the direction of Zion's Church,
which is about six miles northwest of the city of Columbia, and the point where our
wing crossed the Saluda River, one of the branches of the Congaree River. The Fourteenth Corps being in advance of us, we halted for them to cross; at a quarter-past
eleven o'clock, a. in., the skirmishers of the Fifteenth Corps crossed two miles below,
and entered the city of Columbia. The old flag was once more placed upon the State
House, amid the cheers of soldiers and the playing of national airs by our bands. At
ten o'clock, p. m., we crossed the river, marched one mile and encamped for the night
on the peninsula formed by the Saluda and Broad Rivers.
" February 18tl. Marched at three o'clock, p. m., about six miles in northerly direction towards Alston, a railroad junction of the Greenville and Spartansburg Railroad.
"February 19th.  Marched at eleven o'clock, a. m., about seven miles further
towards Alston; bivouacked near Broad River.
" February 20th. Started at seven o'clock, a. m., crossed Broad River, a rapid stream
six hundred and sixty feet wide, on pontoon bridge; soon came to Columbia and Alston
Railroad, which is of the stringer track, and very poor; crossed the Little River, marching in all eight miles north in the direction of Winnsborough; passed through a pleasant, hilly country and found large quantities of provision and forage. It is amusing to
discover the efforts of the people to hide away valuables of various kinds, in every con



THE THIRTEENTH  REGIMENT.                             347
engaged, gradually driving the enemy until they came upon an entrenched line, when, the position being a strong one and our force
ccivable place, but to no purpose, as our men have become adepts in the business of
discovering everything worth having. When discovered, the owners mourn the loss
greatly. The brave South Carolinians do not bear their privations with the fortitude
exhibited by the Georgians.
"February 21st. Started at ten o'clock, a. In., marched in a northerly direction
eight miles to the city of Winnsborough, the county town of Fairfax County-a place
of one thousand one hundred inhabitants in 1860. There was considerable cotton here.
We are in a rich cotton-raising district, which we always destroy wherever we find it.
We have already destroyed many thousand bales. We found the Second Division
(General Geary's) destroying the track of the railroad running from Columbia to Danville and Richmond, Virginia. Marched east two miles and encamped for the night.
Again the programme changes. From the Charleston and Augusta Railroad, we have
been moving north, burning cotton and other valuables, destroying the railroads in
the vicinity of Columbia in every direction, and have moved so far north from Columbia
as to induce the belief on the part of the rebels that we are going to Charlotte. They
have accordingly concentrated their forces there. From this point we again now move
cast, leave the rebels on our left. It will probably take them some little time to learn
of the change as our (bummers) foragers are out so far in every direction that it is
always difficult to tell our plans-particularly as General Sherman keeps his own
counsels. It is related of him that when asked by a prominent general officer where he
was going next, he replied:'If my shirt on my back knew where I was going I
would take it off and burn it,' and this is the secret of his success.
"February 22d. Started at half-past six o'clock, p. m.; our regiment guarding
eighty wagons; marched about nineteen miles in an easterly direction; the march
was a hard one, as the country is very hilly, and we scarcely halted during the whole
day until five o'clock, p. m., when wc went into camp. Foraging parties are abundantly
supplied with chickens, hogs, bacon and potatoes, and we are now filling our wagons
for future use. No other rations, except those gleaned from the country have been
issued for about fifteen days-thus saving the Government millions of dollars. Passed
many splendid mansions and plantations. The Second Division is still destroying
the railroad.
"February 23d. Started at half-past six o'clock, a. m., crossed the river at Rocky
lMount; built a road on east bank, which was very steep, and had a hard time getting
the train along as it rained hard. We have marched but three miles at noon and have
gone into camp to enable the train to get across. We are now moving in an easterly
direction towards Camden.
"February 24th. Started at seven o'clock, a. m., in a severe storm; marched a
mile on the wrong road; countertmarched, and then marched two miles further and
found the road we designed to take occupied by the Seventeenth Corps, making about
two miles in the direction we designed going, and encamped for the night. Not a
pleasant operation, the boys say, however,'it's all in your three years.'
"February 25th. The storm continues. The Fourteenth Corps cannot move their
train, and we wait for them without moving to-day.
" February 26th. Started at four o'clock, p. m.; marched about six miles in a northeasterly direction; corduroyed most of the distance; (we are often obliged to corduroy
the whole distance marched in a day by rails and young trees;) our brigade acted
as rear guard; encamped at eleven o'clock, p. m., about three miles from  Hanging
Rock.
"February 27th. Started at half-past six o'clock, a. m.; marched four miles, as
rear-guard, past Hanging Rock, and over Hanging Rock Creek, road hilly and bad;
encamped about eleven o'clock, a. m., to allow the Fourteenth Corps to overtake us.
"February 28th. Regiment mustered at half-past seven o'clock, a. m.; started at




348               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
small, it was not deemed prudent to hazard an assault until the
arrival of other troops.  The column accordingly halted in a piece
twelve o'clock, m.; guarded about forty wagons. After marching two miles in this
manner, we were assembled to corduroy the road, which was in very bad condition,
owing to the rain of last night. We have once more reached the sandy region and are
among the swamps; find the country more level; we have again passed from  the
primary to tertiary formations; marched about seven miles to-day, crossed Little
Lynch's Creek, and encamped at six o'clock, p. m.
"March 1st. Started at half-past six o'clock, a. m.; our division in the advance;
marched without guarding train; crossed Lynch's Creek-quite a stream-at Miller's
Bridge; made seventeen miles to Chesterfield Court HIouse, passing though pine
forests, in which are some scrubby oaks of small size, hollow and rotten; when about
two miles from Chesterfield, the First Brigade commenced to skirmish with the
enemy, our brigade supporting them in line of battle. The rebels were thus driven
from the town; they, however, occupied the bridge over Thompson's Creek beyond.
The Second Massachussetts Regiment of our brigade was deployed as skirmishers, and
our (Thirteenth) regiment supported them in driving the rebels from the bridge across
the creek and up the hill beyond, which was handsomely done. We then returned to
within a quarter of a mile of the town and encamped for the night. Two of our men
were captured to-day by the enemy-wearing blue uniforms.  We have captured
eighteen of the enemy, who seem very much discouraged, and say it is useless to fight
longer. We are also having some of our escaped prisoners come into our lines, which
is very gratifying. Did not move until
"March 3d. Marched at three o'clock, p. m., across the river, on the road east
towards Cheraw. At this point we learned that the rebels had evacuated that place,
(Cheraw,) and we filed to the left and marched across the fields, one mile to Sneedsborough road, and encamped for the night.
"March 4th. Started at three o'clock, p. m.; marched seven miles in a northeasterly
direction; the roads in bad condition; had to be corduroyed, and the trains assisted
through the mud; we did not reach camping ground until eleven o'clock, p. m.
"March 5th. Did not march to-day.'March 6th. Startedat eight o'clock, a. m.; marched one mile in a northeasterly
direction to the line between North and South Carolina, where we struck the Wadesborough and Cheraw plank road; thence marched along the same in a southeasterly
direction nine miles to Cheraw, formerly a place of about three thousand inhabitants;
remained outside the city for about four hours, then marched through the city in
column by company, with bands playing and colors flying. We halted near the bank
of the Great Pec Dee River-a river of considerable size-until nine o'clock, a. m.,
waiting for other corps to cross the river. We then crossed, marched about four miles
and a half through a swampy country and encamped about midnight-having marched
fifteen miles, and crossed the projected railroad from Cheraw to Charlotte, being an
extension of the road from Charleston to Florence.
"March 7th. Started about eight o'clock, a. m., marched fifteen miles to a railroad,
(the Wilmington, Lamb Hill and Charlotte Railroad,) running from  Wilmington
towards Charlotte, about one hundred and six miles from Wilmington. (The rails
from the east end had been taken up and the road extended to the northwest.) We
destroyed the road and large quantities of cotton.
"March 8th. Started at nine o'clock, a. m.; crossed the railroad (Wilmington,
Lamb Hill and Charlotte,) in a severe storm; we were guarding sixty-six wagons;
roads very bad; passed through many'pine orchards;' are in the richest part of the
turpentine district of the State of North Carolina; marched about fifteen miles,
passing to the right of Rockingham, and encamped about seven o'clock, p. m. The
men seem to realize that they have passed out of South Carolina and do not destroy
by fire or otherwise if it can be avoided.




THE THIRTEENTH.REGIMENT.                            349
of woods, but was at once opened upon with artillery, the missiles,
however, inflicting no damage, and their guns being soon silenced
"March 9th. Started at eight o'clock, a. m.; marched four miles; bridge over
Little Pee Dee or Lumber River destroyed, and halted while it was rebuilt. Part of
the train crossed that day, but the continued severe storms-one of the severest
during the service-made the roads in such a condition that there seems to be no
bottom to them.  The wagons stuck in every direction, the train could not be got
into park and we encamped about midnight on the roadside, and enjoyed one of the
roughest nights during'the three years.'
"March 10th. Started at six o'clock, a. m.; the men were without rations, the
country being poor and our foragers unsuccessful; marched about two miles to the
river at Blue Bridge; mud from ankle to knee deep; guarding train, and corduroying
the road; got some rations about noon; marched eight miles further in a northeasterly
direction, making ten miles in all; cleared off during the afternoon.
"March 11th. Started at half-past ten o'clock; moved forward rapidly without
trains; marched ten miles northeast to the plank road leading from Rockville to
Fayetteville, crossing Rockfish Creek; thence ten miles east to within two miles
of Fayetteville, where we encamped at ten o'clock, p. m. The place had been
evacuated by about twenty-five thousand of the enemy who had declared their
determination a week ago to defend the city to the last, but to-day left very suddenly,
part going to Jonesborough and the balance to Raleigh. On the hill to the west of
the city is the arsenal-one of the largest built by the United States Government, and
covering about twenty acres. There are about twenty brick shops of various sizes for
the manufacture of ordnance, where we found some of the original machinery of the
arsenal, besides some that had been brought from  Harper's Ferry by the rebels.
These buildings and the dwellings, together with the machinery, ordinance manufactured, and materials for the manufacture, in all stages of completion, were all
destroyed, most of them  by the Michigan Engineers, with an ancient weapon-a
battering-ram. We came so suddenly upon the enemy that they did not have time
to remove any of it. The city has an old and dilapidated appearance; formerly con
tained about five thousand inhabitants.  The rebels had destroyed six steamboats
it being the head of navigation on the Cape Fear River.
"March 12th. Steamer up the river from Wilmington with'essential supplies.'
Our men wrote letters to send home; it was the first opportunity they had had in
about forty days. Regiment did not move.
" March 13th. Started at two o'clock, p. m., marched through the city in review before
Generals Sherman and Slocum. The regiment presented a very fine appearance; crossed
the river on pontoon bridge about one hundred and ten yards wide, the rebels having
destroyed the bridge when they left; marched about four miles northeast-making six
miles in all. We found much ill-feeling between the people of North and South Carolina. When the old North State hesitated about seceding from the Union, the South
Carolinians proposed to' come over and warm the tar heels,' and they felt very indignant about it. They now accuse the South Carolinians of acting in a cowardly manner
at Fort Fisher, which was captured because they feared to come out of the bombproofs and fight the Yankees. General Sherman issued an order that brigade commandcrs send in the names of officers to be brevetted for gallant and meritorious services in
the recent campaign. Colonel Hawley sent in the names of Major Harris, commanding
regiment, to be brevetted Colonel, and Quartermaster Byrne and Lieutenant Duncan,
both on brigade staff, to be Captains by brevet.
"March 14th. The brigade has not moved to-day. Our regiment was detailed,
together with the Second Massachusetts Volunteers, to make a reconnoissance and to
get corn and forage for the brigade animals; about twelve o'clock, m., we started with
five wagons, marched north on Raleigh plank road about seven miles, then marched
east about three miles, loaded wagons and reached camp of brigade about ten o'clock,
p. m.-having marched twenty miles and discovered the enemy's position.




350             NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
by our gLuos.  The skirmishers having exhausted their ammunition,
were relieved by another detail from the Thirteenth Regiment, who
were, however, presently withdrawn, the brigade being relieved by
the Third Brigade, Third Division of the corps, and sent into position its right.  The command was then again advanced, with their
skirmishers in front of each company, until the enemy's line was
reached, and the skirmishers became engaged, whereupon the Third
Brigade also advanced, and finding no enemy in front flanked the
rebel works, opening an enfilading  fire along their lines.  At the
first volley, the Second Brigade simultaneously advancing its lines,
the rebels broke and fell back to a new  line of works, stretching
from Cape Fear River to Black Creek, the possession of which was
of vital importance to the enemy.  Without delay, our line was
pushed forward in pursuit, the skirmishers again speedily becoming
engaged; but the enemy holding his ground with stubborn tenacity,
about two o'clock p. m., an advance of our whole line was ordered.
In this movement, the Thirteenth passed through a deep swamp,
driving the rebel skirmishers rapidly into their works, and halting
some two hundred yards from their position, where a line of earthworks was hastily thrown up, after a severe engagement in which
it lost two men killed and twenty-two wounded —many of the latter
severely.  Later in the day, the brigade was relieved and passed to
the rear, expecting to renew the fight on the morrow, but the enemy
during the night evacuated the position, and next day the Thirteenth, resuming its advance, passed through his evacuated -works.
During the 18th, it pushed forward in the direction of Goldsborough,
"March 15th. Started at eight o'clock, a. m., marched again north on Raleigh
plank road about eleven miles, encamped near the bank of Cape Fear River at about three
o' clock, p. in., and prepared for the night. At eight o' clock, p. m., however, the brigade
was moved rapidly forward about four miles, to near Averysborough, in the rain and
over roads in an execrable condition to support Kilpatrick's cavalry, who had met the
enemy's infantry at that point. We reached his position at midnight. The movement
to-day is without trains; these have been sent to the right, with the Second Division
as guard, so that the Fourteenth Corps and the First and Third Divisions of our corps,
with the cavalry, are moving directly north in the direction of Raleigh, up the peninsula formed by the Cape Fear River and Black Creek. The object of this movement
was to bring the rebels out of Goldsborough by threatening Raleigh, when the right
wing of the army was to occupy Goldsborough and we to follow to that place. This
we accomplished, but instead of their marching to Raleigh to defend that place they
concentrated a considerable force in our front at this point. Were ordered to be ready
to move at daylight."




THE THIRTEENTH REGIMEENT.                 351
corduroying the road as it advanced, and on the 19th, being with
its brigade in the advance of the corps, received orders to move
rapidly in the direction of Bentonville, near which Slocum's column
had developed the whole of the rebel army under Johnston's immediate command, and the day previous had suffered some damage at
their hands. Reaching a point three miles distant from Bentonville,
the Second Brigade was at once formed (in rear of the Fourteenth
Corps, which was already engaged,) with the right resting on the
road to Goldsborough, and at right angles to that road, on ground
from which the enemy, whose main line of works was behind Mill
Creek, had been driven.  After remaining in this position for some
time, the brigade was moved some five hundred yards to the left,
crossing a narrow ravine and swamp, and placed in two lines on the
right of the front line of battle, and left of the ravine-the Thirteenth
being in rear of the Second Massachusetts regiment, in reserve, in
column by division closed in mass. Here, it assisted in building
breastworks, the firing on the left of thle front line of the Fourteenth
Corps meanwhile growing heavier, and the sound of musketry
coming momentarily nearer, indicating that the advanced line was
falling back. At this juncture, Major Harris was directed by the
brigade commander to deploy, and place the regiment on the other,
or right side of the ravine, using his judgment as to the best position, as rapidly as possible, and, once in position, to construct
such defenses as could be quickly made. This order was promptly
obeyed, the line being formed on the edge of the ravine as nearly
on a prolongation of the brigade-line as the nature of the ground
would admit, and the men at once commencing to construct a defense of rails and such other materials as were at hand. It soon
became evident, however, from the firing, and the number of stragglers from the Fourteenth Corps, who were falling back in the'
utmost confusion, that the front line, whose rear the Thirteenth was
designed to protect, had given way, and it was seen at a glance that
unless the tide could be turned, a great disaster might result.  The
most strenuous efforts were therefore made to arrest the progress of
the fugitives and turn them into the line of the Thirteenth on the
right, in order to connect it with the brigade, some four hundred




85E NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
yards distant, but this, owing to their demoralization, was found to
be impossible, and the right flank of the regiment continuing thus
exposed, it became necessary to form it at right angles with the
main line, which was accordingly done, the rails used as breastworks being hastily removed to the new position, and the Eightysecond Illinois Regiment coming in on the right and continuing
the line. All these movements, of course, required time, and the
defenses were scarcely completed when the rebels appeared, moving
forward in three lines of battle, from a belt of woods into a cleared
field a short distance on our left, on the opposite side of the ravine.
Apparently, they were unconscious of the position of the Thirteenth,
or underrated its strength and courage, and advanced in handsome
style right into the jaws of disaster. Waiting until they had approached within two hundred yards of its position, the Thirteenth
suddenly opened upon them, the fire partly enfilading their lines
and instantly throwing them into confusion.  Speedily, however,
re-forming, they again attempted to advance, but a second volley
from the Thirteenth caused them to fall back a second time in disorder.  Repeated efforts were now made to re-form their lines, but
they were as often broken by the withering fire of our men, poured
into their ranks with deliberate and unerring aim, and finally, disspirited and demoralized, they fell back a confused rabble, leaving
their dead and wounded on the field, and the Thirteenth masters of
the position.  So severely was the enemy punished that while
efforts were made to break our line at other points, he carefully
refrained from any demonstrations in front of the Thirteenth, and
other troops coming up during the night, he two days after decamped without any further attempt to stay our progress.
The action of the Thirteenth in this, the last battle of the war,
was throughout of the most gallant character. Had the regiment
failed to hold its position, either through incapacity on the part of
its officers or want of steadiness among the men; had the line
given way under pressure of the stragglers from  the front and
fallen in with the ebbing tide, the battle must almost inevitably
have been lost and the final victory over Johnston's army delayed
perhaps for weeks.  Johnston, with forty thousand men, had




THE THIRTEENTIH REGIMENT.               353
hurried to Bentonville from Smithfield with great rapidity, and
without unnecessary wheels, with the specific design of overwhelming Slocum before he could get up supports, and had he succeeded
in defeating the latter and the supports already up when the battle
was joined, it is easy to see that the reinforcements which arrived
after the fight must have fared badly at his hands. That he did
not succeed in his purpose was owing to the Thirteenth New Jersey
Regiment more largely than to any other regiment or brigade of
the army, and those who were cognizant of the circumstances were
not slow to admit the fact. Corps, division and brigade command
ers alike united in commending the conduct of the regiment. Colonel Hawley, commanding the brigade, addressing the regiment,
said openly and unqualifiedly, "You are entitled to the thanks of
this whole army, for you have saved it." And he added, in the
same strain of confidence and approval, "I have no orders to give,
for I know you will hold your position without."
During the 20th and 21st, the regiment remained in the position
which it occupied on the 19th, strengthening its works in various
ways, but on the 22d, the enemy having evacuated his position, it
moved out with the army in pursuit. Goldsborough had meanwhile
been occupied by the co-operating force under General Schofield,
and on the 24th, the Thirteenth marched into that town with colors
flying and drums beating, going into camp, after passing in review
by Generals Sherman and Slocum, three miles north of the city
limits. And here, after seventy days of marching, toiling and
fighting, ended the campaign of the Carolinas, in which the army
had built six hundred miles of corduroy road, captured and destroyed cotton and other property to the value of millions of dollars,
broken all the vital communications of the enemy, and made the
mother-State of secession and rebellion feel in every nerve and
fibre the war which she had causelessly provoked.
The Thirteenth remained at Goldsborough until April 10th
engaged in various duties, and re-fitting preparatory to a further
movement. On the 26th of March, Major Harris was mustered in
as Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment, and Sergeant Bodwell, of
Company E, as First Lieutenant of his company. On the 28th,
45




304           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
the regiment participated in a forage expedition, which resulted
very successfully. About this time, Colonel Carman rejoined the
command, but was detailed by General Slocum to proceed to Nashville, Tennessee, and secure the property belonging to the corps,
remaining at that point. Lieutenant-Colonel Harris being ordered to
the hospital at Newberne on account of fever contracted during the
last campaign, the regiment was placed in command of Captain
Arey, now commissioned Major. On the 10th of April, the news
of the fall of Richmond having reached the army, Sherman, whose
plans were already matured, he set all his columns in motion against
the enemy, then concentrated about Smithfield, the Twentieth
Corps entering that place, Johnston withdrawing across the Neuse'River on the following day. Dropping all trains, Sherman marched
rapidly in pursuit to and through Raleigh, the Thirteenth reaching
that place on the 13th in a heavy rain, and thence pushing on to
Martha's Vineyard, near Cape Fear River, Johnston, meanwhile,
retreating rapidly on the roads from  Hillsborough to Greensborough. But here the advance was suddenly arrested. On the
14th, after all the dispositions for an advance on Raleigh had been
completed, Sherman received a communication from Johnston, by
a flag of truce, requesting an armistice. witl a statement of the
best terms on which he would be permitted to surrender the army
under his command. Sherman at once dispatched an answer to
this request, and a meeting of the two commanders being had, terms
of capitulation were agreed upon, both armies meanwhile lying idle.
The memorandum or basis thus agreed upon was immediately sent
to Washington, where, upon due consideration by the President
and Cabinet, it was disapproved, and General Sherman directed
to resume hostilities at the earliest moment. The latter, accordingly,
(April 24th,) notified General Johnston that at the end of two days
the truce must terminate; but on the day following, a renewal of
negotiations was asked for, and on the 26th final terms were concluded, and the second grand army of the rebellion was surrendered
to the power of the Union which it had hoped to destroy.
The Thirteenth had fought its last battle; the war was ended;
peace was ore more mosmiling over the land.  Now all that remained




THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT.                  o55
was to march homeward, and lay off the laurels so bravely won.
On the 29th, the Thirteenth moved out from its camp in the direction of Richmond, reaching that city May 9th: thence proceeding
to Fairfax Seminary, where it remained until the 24th, when, after
participating in the review of "Sherman's Army," in which it
attracted much attention, it marched to Bladensburg, about four
miles from Washington, and went into camp.  On the 6th of June,
General Williams having left the division, Colonel Carman, now
Brigadier-General, was placed in command, Lieutenant-Colonel
Harris having command of the brigade, and Major Arey of the
regiment. On the 9th, transportation having been provided, the
regiment took cars at Washington for Newark, reaching the latter
city on the 10th, and after a welcome from the Mayor, proceeded to
the "Ward" United States Hospital, where the men deposited their
arms, and then separated to their homes.  On the 15th, the regiment
paraded the city, at the request of a committee of the municipal
council, and subsequently partook of a dinner provided by the
citizens.  On the 26th, the last man of the command was mustered
out, and the Thirteenth Regiment, which on so many fields had
fought bravely and well for the flag of their Fathers, ceased to exist.
But the memory of its deeds remains as a legacy to the State it
honored; and this will grow brighter and brighter as the nation
learns more and more the real value, the inestimable preciousness
of the results it helped to achieve.




CHAPTER XII.
THE FOURTEENTH REGIMENT
THE Fourteenth Regiment was mustered into the serv..    f the
United States on the 26th of August, 1862, and left Freehold for
the field, nine hundred and fifty strong, on the 2d of September.
The regiment was composed of excellent material and was finely
officered, William  S. Truex, who had been Major of the Fifth, and
subsequently  Lieutenant-Colonel of the  Tenth  Regiment, being
Colonel, and Caldwell K. Hall, who had been Adjutant of the Fifth,
Lieutenant-Colonel, while among the officers of the line there were
men  of the  very  highest courage  and  soldierly qualifications.'
Reaching Baltimore, the regiment was dispatched by rail to Frederick Junction, fifty-eight miles distant on the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad, for the purpose of guarding Monocacy Bridge, a costly
iron structure across Monocacy River.  Iere, almost immediately
upon its arrival, information was received that the advance of Lee's
1 The roster of the regiment was as follows:
Colonel, William S. Truex; Lieutenant-Colonel, Caldwell K. Hall; Major, P. Vredenburg, Jr.; Adjutant, F. Lemuel Buckalew; Quartermaster, Enoch L. Cowart; Surgeon, Ambrose Treganowan; Assistant-Surgeons, Joseph B. Martin, Herbert B. Chambre; Chaplain, Frank B. Rose. Company A-Captain, Austin H. Patterson; First
Lieutenant, Frederick W. Kerner; Second Lieutenant, Charles M. Bartruff. Company
B-Captain, Benjamin F. Craig; First Lieutenant, Budd S. Bodine; Second Lieutenant,
Tenadore Woodward.  Company C-Captain, Chauncey Harris; First Lieutenant,
Ebenezer Muddell; Second Lieutenant, Joseph W. Waker.  Company D-Captain,
James W. Conover; First Lieutenant, Henry J. Conine; Second Lieutenant, William
H. Craig. Company  — Captain, James L. Bodwell; First Lieutenant, Isaac S. Tingley; Second Lieutenant, James O. Bedell. Company F-Captain, Ralph B. Goudy;
First Lieutenant, John C. Patterson; Second Lieutenant, Samuel C. Bailey. Company
G-Captain, John V. Allstrom; First Lieutenant, George W. Patterson; Second Lieutenant, William W. Conover. Company II —Captain, Symmes H. Stults; First Lieutenant, Marcus A. Stults; Second Lieutenant, William D. Connolly. Company ICaptain, Samuel Ross; First Lieutenant, Joseph J. Hawk; Second Lieutenant, Theodore J. Green. Company K-Captain, Jacob J. Janeway; First Lieutenant, Henry D.
Bookotaver; Second Lieutenant, Lewis A. Hoffman.




THE FOURTEENTH REGIMENT.                 357
army had crossed into Maryland and was moving upon Frederick.
The Fourteenth was at once ordered to fall back, and a coal train
being seized, the command was transferred to Elysville, twenty-one
miles from Baltimore, where it remained for ten days, doing guard
and picket-duty. The withdrawal from Monocacy was not effected
a moment too soon, the advance of the rebels reaching that point
only one hour after the departure of the regiment. As he advanced
the enemy burned the bridge at Monocacy and laid waste the
country, but being overtaken and beaten at South Mountain and
Antietam, he was compelled on the night of the 18th to retreat
across the Potomac. Meanwhile. the Fourteenth Regiment was
ordered to return to Monocacy and rebuild the bridge, and reaching
that place on the 17th, the work was vigorously commenced and
soon completed to the satisfaction of those in command. Here, for
nine months, the regiment remained inactive. During the winter,
a great deal of sickness prevailed among the men, and seventy-five
deaths occurred, the rations being poor, and the sanitary conditions of the camp unfavorable.  The regiment, however, steadily
improved in drill and discipline; and as the men grew accustomed
to the hardships of the soldier's life, the number of the sick gradually diminished and the efficiency of the command proportionately
increased. During the month of January, 1863, two companies
were detailed as guards along the railroad, one (E) being stationed
at Monrovia, seven miles from the camp, and the other (K) at
Mount Airy, fourteen miles from  camp. About the same time,
Colonel Truex was appointed Acting Brigadier-General, with headquarters at Frederick City, and the Third Delaware Regiment and
Purnell Legion being temporarily brigaded with the Fourteenth,
all were placed under his command, Lieutenant-Colonel Hall commanding the latter. Early in the spring, six companies were
detached from the regiment (Companies B and G being left at Monocacy) and sent to Martinsburg, for the purpose of reinforcing
General Milroy, who was threatened by the enemy, but no attack
being made, the detachment six weeks later returned to camp. But
the regiment was not to remain much longer inactive. Lee's army
having again moved, after the battle of Chancellorsville, in the




358            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
direction of the Potomac, the Fourteenth was early in June ordered
to the front, and proceeding to Harper's Ferry, took position on
Maryland Heights.  Here it remained for two weeks, the men
working on the fortifications and performing other duty. General
Meade, however, immediately upon his succession to the command
of the Army of the Potomac, ordered the evacuation of the Heights,
and on the 30th of June the division in possession (commanded by
General French) abandoned the position and proceeded towards
Frederick City, whence, after various unimportant movements, it
was ordered to march to the relief of Meade's army, now engaged
with the enemy at Gettysburg.  Reaching Boonsborough Gap, by
way of which it was supposed the rebels, now in retreat, would
retire, the division formed in line of battle, but, Lee having pursued another route, did not become engaged.' On the 9th of July,
leaving the Gap, the division, now assigned to the Third Army
Corps and designated as Third Division, marched to the front, joining the main array, whose fortunes it shared from that time forward
to the close of the war.
On the afternoon of the 17th, Lee having safely effected his withdrawal, the Fourteenth (with its division) crossed the Potomac at
Edward's Ferry, and after various movements reached Bealton
Station, where it went into camp, not having been engaged in any
of the conflicts which attended the pursuit of the enemy. The
brigade was now the largest in the corps; the Fourteenth numbered
eight hundred men; the Tenth Vermont, nine hundred men, commanded by Colonel Henry; and the One Hundred and Fifty-first
New York, nine hundred men, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel
Bowen, in all two thousand six hundred men.  The troops remained
in camp along the Rappahannock for five weeks-the rebel army
meanwhile lying quietly in camp at Culpepper. On the 15th of
September, however, the calm was again broken, the corps crossing
the Rappahannock and Hazel Rivers, and taking position near
Culpepper Court House, where it remained until October 10th,
2 At this time, the Fourteenth was brigaded with the One Hundred and Fifty-first
New York, Sixth New York Heavy Artillery and Tenth Vermont, commanded by
Brigadier-General Morris.




THE FOURTEEN'TH REGIM;ENT.                     359
when, the enemy advancing from  Madison Court House on our
right, Meade fell back across the Rappahannock.  Here the Fourteenth was detailed for picket-duty, but the rebels still advancing in
heavy force, it was withdrawn after a day's service, and with the
army, continued the retrograde movement to Centreville Heights,
lossing forty men taken prisoners during the march. Lee, however,
failed in his movement, and having in turn fallen back, our army
again advanced, the Third Corps reaching Catlett's Station on the
21st of October.  On the 30th, the corps again moved forward,
marching seven miles and encamping near Bealton Station, where,
on November 7th, it advanced to the Rappahannock, along which
the enemy were constructing formidable works, and with the other
corps engaged, effected a crossing, driving the enemy from the river
with considerable loss.  After a halt of a few days at Brandy Station, the corps again advanced, crossing the Rapidan, and overtaking the enemy at Locust Grove, a dense forest of pine trees, where
he was strongly posted.  At this time the brigade to which the
Fourteenth was attached (the First of the Third division,) had the
advance, and skirmishers being sent out, it soon became engaged,
the men fighting bravely for four hours, at one time charging with
great gallantry, and driving the rebels from their position with
a loss of several prisoners.  The Fourteenth, which had never
before been actively engaged, fought with great steadiness throughout.  Two companies (B and K,) being on the extreme left of the
line, became separated from the regiment, and not having the order
to fall back when relieved, remained in action for a full hour longer
than the rest of the command, only retiring when their ammunition
was exhausted.  The loss of the regiment was sixteen killed and
fifty-eight wounded (one report says fourteen killed and forty-nine
wounded,)-its first losses in battle.' Darkness coming on, the
" i General Morris rode to the front, congratulating the men for their bravery; in a
few words he told them that as new troops, a brigade never fought better; that they
had accomplished all that was desired of them."-Sergeant Terrill's Iistory of the
Fourteenth Regimcnt.
Among the killed were five members of Company H, that company suffering more
heavily than any other in killed, while Company A lost most severely in wounded.
The killed were Nathaniel W. Hawkinson, Barzillai Taylor, Henry C. Wilson, Michael
Laven, Robert Farron, John White, Elliott Fields, Alfred Carman, Elwood Silvers,




360               NEW7 JERSEY  AND THE REBELLIONS
enemy retired to their position  at Mine Run, towards which our
forces at once advanced, but his works being found of a most formidable character, an assault, at first contemplated, was abandoned.
General Meade, on the 1st of December, ordered a withdrawal across
the Rapidan, which was at once effected without serious molestation, and four days after, the Fourteenth went into winter-quarters at
Brandy Station-occupying an old rebel camp.  At this time, the
regiment numbered but six hundred men fit for duty-three hundred  and fifty  less than when it entered  the field.  Nearly  one
hundred had died, sixteen had been killed in battle, some were on
detached service, some were in hospital, while a few had deserted.
During the winter a deep religious feeling was awakened in the
regiment, and many, under the faithful counsels of Chaplain Rose,
were brought to a saving knowledge of Christian truth.  Regimental
churches were built of logs, covered with tents furnished by the
Sanitary Commission, and tracts, books and papers were freely
distributed daily by men interested in the cause.4
Cornelius Boor'em, Peter Rue, Thomas Vanhise, Jefferson Rogers, Abraham Perdun
and David Gallagher.
The following complimentary order was issued by General Morris, under date of
December 1st:
" The Brigade commander deems it his gratifying duty, to express to the officers and
men of the Fourteenth New Jersey Volunteers, commanded by Colonel William S.
Truex, his appreciation of their bravery and endurance throughout the engagement on
the 27th of November.
"The occasion was one which presented the perils of the battle-field in the most
discouiaging form. It was necessary to form the line of battle in a dense woods, and
at the base of a hill, with the enemy in position on its crest, protected by breastworks.
The regiment was under fire for three hours, and for a portion of that time the crossfire of the enemy's rifles made rapid and terrible havoc in the ranks. Its duty being
to hold the line without advancing beyond a limited distance, the regiment performed
its entire mission, drove the enemy from the crest, and held it until their ammunition
was exhausted, and the veterans of the First Division arrived to relieve them.
" Our distinguished division and corps commanders, have spoken of the regiment in
terms of high commendations.
"The brigade commander is proud to lead such gallant and patriotic hearts.
"By command of                              Brigadier-General MoRRIs."
4 Sergeant Terrill in his history of the FoUrteenth says:
" A great many who were converted were killed in the ensuing battles of the coming
campaign, which was destined to be the hardest ever Witnessed. Tools were furnished
the men in abundance, and tents and churches rapidly erected. A pioneer corps was
also organized for each brigade. The tools were packed in boxes, and carried on
mules, slung across their backs. During active service they were to march ahead of
the troops, clearing the way; also to bridge streams and ditches; build officers' tents,
and to make themselves useful in various ways. The troops were now taught to




THE FOURTEENTH REGIMENT.                    361
Nothing disturbed the monotony of winter-quarters until the 6th
of February, when the corps moved out and engaged the enemy at
Culpepper Ford, but was unable to effect a crossing of the river,
Lee being discovered in position, with his line extending from the
Rapidan to Orange Court House. During the month of March,
General Grant having been placed in chief command, the army
of the Potomac was re-organized. The Third Corps being broken
up, the Third Division (to which the Fourteenth was attached) was
placed in the Sixth Corps, being at the same time reduced to two
brigades instead of three. The Fourteenth still remained in the
First Brigade, now consisting of the Tenth Vermont, One Hundred
and Sixth and One Hundred and Fifty-first New York and Eightyseventh Pennsylvania.
At length, on the 3d of May, 1864, orders were issued for a forward movement, and on the following morning the whole army
commenced its grand advance against the enemy, now concentrated
at the Wilderness.  Here, early on the 5th, our advance under
Warren met and engaged the enemy, the battle raging furiously
all day, Sedgwick's Corps, reaching the field, went into action shortly
after noon, the Third Brigade of the Third Division being sent to
reinforce the center.  Here the Fourteenth was engaged for several
hours, fighting gallantly and losing heavily. On the following day,
the enemy attempting to turn our right flank, the battle was
renewed and continued with great fury-the First Brigade still
holding its position near the center, but losing few men.  During
the night, the enemy retired, when Grant advanced his columns
with a view of concentrating around Spottsylvania Court House.
Upon emerging from  the Wilderness, Warren's Corps became
actively engaged on the 8th with Longstreet's Veterans, who sought
to delay his progress, and the Sixth Corps going to his relief late
in the afternoon, the Fourteenth again went into action, the enemy
being driven back with a loss of one thousand five hundred men.
manceuvre by brigades and divisions; each afternoon was brigade-drill and dressparade, the officers and men presenting a fine appearance, having lain in camp long
enough to get fixed up. Clothing was issued in abundance, and everything that was
needed for an army was forwarded to the men."
46




362            NsEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
During the night the men hastily threw up breastworks, and during
the whole of the following day heavy skirmishing was kept up,
but without any decisive results. General Morris having been
wounded, Colonel Truex had now been placed temporarily in command of the brigade. During the 10th and 11th the skirmishing
continued, being followed on the 12th by a magnificent dash of
Hancock's Corps and a desperate engagement along the entire line,
the fighting being more murderous and deadly than in any previous
battles, and resulting greatly to the damage of the enemy.  The
six follwing days were occupied in manoeuvering and skirmishing
at various points. On the night of the 21st, General Grant commenced a flanking advance to the North Anna, and on the 24th,
the Fourteenth crossed (with its corps) at Jericho Ford. Thence
the brigade proceeded five miles to Nole's Station, forty miles from
Gordonsville, and thirty from Richmond, where it destroyed the
Virginia Central Railroad for a distance of eight miles, and returned
to the corps without loss. General Grant having meanwhile found
the enemy's position invulnerable, determined upon another flank
movement, and accordingly, on the night of the 26th, cautiously
withdrew  from Lee's front, re-crossed the river unassailed, and,
after pushing well east to avoid a demonstration on the flank of
our long columns, while extended in movement, again turned southward and took the road to Richmond.  In this movement the
Sixth Corps had the advance.  Crossing the Pamunkey, the army
steadily advanced with heavy skirmishing to the Hanover Court
House and Cold Harbor road, developing the enemy's position
north of the Chickahominy. Here, on the 31st, a general advance
was ordered, resulting in the capture of a good part of the enemy's
advanced line of rif e pits, our troops holding and bivouacking on
the ground they had gained.  During this engagement the Fourteenth was on the skirmish line, and lost several in killed and
wounded-Orderly Black, of Company I, being shot through the
heart and instantly killed, while Colonel Truex was slightly
wounded in the hand, but did not leave the field.
On the morning of June 1st, the army resumed its advance, the
Sixth Corps again in the rear. After a march of fifteen miles, the




THE FOURTEENTH  REGIMENT.                           363
enemy's position at Cold Harbor was reached, and at five o'clock
assault was delivered, the Third Division being in the advance
with the Fourteenth in the front line.  The enemy at this point
was posted in a wood —which concealed his strength —facing a
level, open field.  Across this field our men advanced with great
spirit, under a heavy fire, and a terrific battle ensued, the losses on
both sides being very heavy.  The Fourteenth- suffered severely
losing in two hours two hundred and forty in killed and woundedLieutenant Stults, of Company H, and Lieutenant Tingley, of Company E, being among the former. The enemy being in overwhelming force, our lines was obliged to fall back a short distance, entrenching strongly during the night.  Other corps being held in
readiness now came up, getting into position for an attack on the
5 Captain John C. Patterson supplies the following in reference to the fighting at
Cold Harbor:
" We moved out from our position at Crump's Creek-on the evening of May 31st,
marching all the night in the direction of Cold Harbor, and reaching there a little past
twelve o'clock, m., June 1st, we were immediately formed in line, and our corps (Sixth)
ordered to get ready for a charge. The bugle'sounded at about a quarter to five
o'clock, p. in., and we dashed forward, my company on the right. We suffered
severely, but getting through a slough we were soon upon the enemy, leaping the
works, and putting him to route. I being on the right directed the movement. We
pursued the rebels some sixty paces beyond their works, when I ordered a halt, finding
that we were alone. (When I say alone, I mean companies D, F and a part of A.)
1 then formed the line, and passing to the left, found that we were broken from the
rest of the regiment; I then faced left, and moved off obliquely to rejoin the rest of
the regiment to the left and rear. In moving along the enemy's works, I found the
cause of the break in the regiment to be a bend in the works. As we sprang on the
works, just at the bend, we saw the enemy in pretty strong force just above the
bend firing at the rest of my regiment. I immediately called to the men to follow me,
but the noise of battle, I suppose, prevented my call being heard. I then called for
volunteers, and in answer fourteen brave boys sprang over the works, led by young
Rodman M. Clark. I ordered the boys to fire a volley into the rebels as they stood
packed together, which they did, and the most of them threw down their arms. At
this point young Clark displayed great gallantry, dashing in among the rebs and
commencing to disarm them. Some of them still kept firing at us, but all the while we
were disarming others. I ran up to the one I judged to be a superior officer, and
placing my pistol at his head, told him if he did not have his men stop firing I would
shoot him, whereupon he ordered them to cease. Before they did so, however, one
scamp fired at me so closely that I felt the heat of the explosion in my face. The
rebel officer proved to be a Major. I ordered him to pass to the rear, and then proceeded, assisted by young Clark and the other boys, to secure as many prisoners as
possible-our time being short, as we were feeling the fire of rebel reinforcements.
In about ten to fifteen minutes, I secured and turned over to the Provost-Marshal
one hundred and sixty-six men, including one Major, three Captains and three Lieutenants. I had one man killed and one badly wounded.
"We remained at Cold Harbor, with severe skirmishing, until June 7th, when
we moved and crossed the James River."




364           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
3d. At sunrise on that morning the enemy's works were again
assaulted, and with no other substantial result than the loss of some
thousands of men who had in vain dashed themselves heroically
against an impregnable position.  In this assault, the Fourteenth
again lost several men. General Grant, now satisfied that the rebel
works could not be carried, wisely decided to pass the Chickahominy far to Lee's right, and thence move across the James to demonstrate against Richmond from the south; and accordingly, on the
night of the 12th, the Fifth and Second Corps were put in motion,
the Sixth guarding the rear and trains. Reaching Charles City
Court House on the 13th, the corps crossed the James, the Third
Division, forming the rear of the entire army, remaining on the
banks of the river until all the troops had passed.  It was then
placed on transports and carried to Bermuda Hundred, whence,
having disembarked, it marched to the front, uniting with Butler's
army, then investing Petersburg.  On the 21st, the corps was
moved into position on the left with a view of finding and turning
the enemy's right -cutting or holding the Weldon Railroad; the
Third Division again having the advance.  Crossing the Norfolk
and Petersburg Railroad, of which General Smith had already taken
possession, the corps pushed steadily forward, reaching the Weldon
road on the 23d, and tearing up the track for some distance. Here,
however, a large force of the enemy suddenly appeared on the
scene and struck the corps a heavy blow on the flank, inflicting
considerable loss, the Fourteenth, which became actively engaged,
losing some forty men in killed and prisoners. Thus repulsed, the
corps fell back to a new position, where earthworks were erected,
and the troops, the rebels not pursuing, remained unmolested during
the night. Meanwhile, General Wilson, who with two divisions of
cavalry had moved against the enemy's communications, had struck
the Weldon Railroad at Ream's Station, where he destroyed a long
stretch of track, and passing thence westwardly, had reached and
destroyed the track of the Lynchburg road for a distance of twentytwo miles,-reaching Dunkersville on the 23d, he had also torn up
the Danville road for a considerable distance, but being confronted
by a stronger force of the enemy than he could dislodge, he started




THE FOURTEENTH REGIMENT.                     365
on his return. By this time, the enemy was all around him, and
on his striking the Weldon road at Stony Creek, assailed him with
great fury, compelling him to move on the left with a view of reaching Ream's Station, which he supposed to be in our possession. The
infantry movement, however, for that point, as we have seen, had
failed, and instead of finding friends, Wilson again encbuntered the
enemy in heavy force-being, indeed, almost entirely surrounded.
Information of his perilous position reaching General Meade; the
Sixth Corps was at once (June 29th,) moved out to his support,
reaching a point near the station late in the afternoon. The enemy,
however, now retired, and after remaining at the station for three
days, during which the Fourteenth New Jersey and One Hundred
and Sixth New York were engaged in destroying the railroad, the
column returned to its old position."
While these movements were in progress around Richmond, G-eneral Hunter with a large Union force had moved up the Shenandoah Valley, meeting and dispersing the enemy at various points,
and finally (on the 15th of June) reached Lynchburg.  This being
a point of great importance to the enemy, Lee promptly dispatched
a considerable force to its relief, part of which arrived the day
before Hunter attacked the city from the south, (June 18th,) and
the remainder during the following night.  Thus menaced, and his
ammunition running low, Hunter deemed it best to retire, which
he did by way of the Kanawha Valley, thus laying the Shenandoah
region fairly open to incursions by the enemy. Lee was not slow
to improve the opportunity. Early, with all the forces he could
muster, was at once sent northward, and moving rapidly, soon
appeared on the Potomac, our forces at Martinsburg retreating
precipitately to Harper's Ferry. Crossing the river, Early " raided"
in various directions, causing great consternation in Maryland and
Pennsylvania, and finally concentrated in the vicinity of Frederick.
General Grant satisfied, at length, that the forces then in Maryland
6 The actual losses of the Fourteenth up to this time, as reported June 27th, had
been twenty-nine killed, one hundred and seven wounded and fifteen missing. Many
of those who had been slightly wounded in the earlier battles of the campaign had
returned to duty, and are not included in this report. The total casualties, during the
whole campaign were not less, perhaps, than three hundred.




366           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
were not sufficient to cope with Early, resolved to send relief, and
accordingly, on the 6th of July, the Third Division of the Sixth
Corps was detached from the army in front of Petersburg and hurried
to Locust Point near Baltimore, where it arrived on the morning of
the 8th, General Ricketts being in command. From this point the
division, numbering some five thousand men, proceeded by rail to
Monocacy-the Fourteenth New Jersey being the first regiment to
reach that familiar ground. By this time the rebels were in force
at Frederick City, but were closely watched by General Wallace in
command of our forces, who, on the night of the Sth, took position
on the left bank of the Monocacy, which afforded a fair defensive
position. Early on the 9th, the dispositions for battle were completed, the division of General Ricketts having the left and holding
the high road to Washington.  At nine o'clock the rebel skirmishers appeared in front and soon drove our skirmish line across the
river, thereupon planting guns and opening the battle. The disparity of artillery was great, the enemy having sixteen Napoleons,
while we had only six smaller pieces; and the superiority of his
fire was soon apparent.  Gradually the skirmishing grew warmer
and more general, and soon the fighting became serious.  At length
a body of the rebel army, moving out of range of our guns, and
flanking our left, forced a passage of the Monocacy two miles below
the bridge on the Washington road-at once advancing in battlearray upon Ricketts, who had changed front to the left to meet
their advance on his flank, his right resting on the river, steadily
the rebel columns advanced to the assault, but they were met by a
steadiness as inflexible as their own. The brave division, fighting
with a desperation rarely matched, again and again repelled the
rebel assaults, strewing the ground with dead-for six hours maintaining the unequal contest, waiting in vain for reinforcements that
did not come. At length, the enemy, gathering all his strength for
a final blow, again moved from our left in two massive lines to the
charge, and gradually enveloping our lines, nothing was left but
to retreat.  The Fourteenth, being on the extreme left of the line,
had suffered severely, but it had stood manfully to its work, and
only retired when General Wallace, seeing that further fighting was




TILE FOURTEENTH  REGIMENT.                          367
useless, ordered it to do so. During the engagement LieutenantColonel Hall, Adjutant Buckalew  and several officers had been
wounded; Captains Stults, Kanine and Conover were killed, while
every remaining officer of the line was either killed or wounded
except Captain J. J. Janeway, of Company K.  The command of
the regiment devolving upon him, he led it bravely, but success
was impossible, and at length the line gradually fell back, the men
still disputing every inch of ground. But now, the enemy pressing
in, poured a terrible fire of grape and canister into the retiring
ranks, cutting down the defiant veterans by scores and fifties. Happily, however, the pursuit was not persistant, and  at length  the
weary division, extricated from its peril, found pause and safety six
miles distant at New  Market.  The whole number of casualties in
the Fourteenth as returned to the Adjutant General, was ten killed,
sixty-nine wounded and five missing.7 (Another and earlier report
7 This report was not made up until several days after the battle, when many of the
missing had come in. It was at first supposed that the loss was much greater. Sergeant Terrill says in his history of the regiment: "Captain Harris, of Company C,
was twice wounded, and was again struck while being helped in an ambulance; several
staff officers were also wounded, among them Captain King, Adjutant-General of the
division. Captain Janeway was wounded in the shoulder shortly after taking command, and was forced to leave; the regiment was now without a commander. Several
recruits had arrived after the battle of Cold Harbor, and the regiment was partly filled,
entering the fight with three hundred and fifty men; but ninety-five came out, two
hundred and fifty-five being killed, wounded and captured in that terrible battle. Of
the nine hundred and fifty men that left New Jersey, but ninety-five were left for duty,
on the night of July 9th, without an officer to command them."
The following from an officer narrates some incidents in the experience of the regiment subsequent to its arrival in the vicinity of Monocacy:  Reaching Frederick, July
8th, we formed line west of the city, facing the Katodan mountains. Captain John C.
Patterson was placed in command of the picket line, about two miles long. At eight
o'clock in the evening, the troops were ordered by General Wallace to re-cross the
Mlonocacy River by moving down the Baltimore pike and thence south, to take up a
position on our old camp ground (Camp Hooker). The pickets were left until a quarter-past ten o'clock, when we were ordered to rejoin the main column at Monocacy
Bridge. We had to move very quietly, owing to the closeness of the rebel pickets,
The commandant cautioned the pickets (who were stationed about fifteen steps apart)
to be very still and to each move back some distance before assembling on the pike.
One poor fellow, overpowered by sleep, remained on the line, his post being in corn
about knee high. He remained asleep until daylight next morning; as soon as it was
light enough to discern objects at any distance he began to look around, raising to his
feet. His rising was the signal for a hundred rebels to fire upon him. Strange to say
lie was unhurt, and dashed away in the direction of Frederick. But three rebel cavalrymen at once started to cut him off. As he was running across the field, he was joined
by a citizen armed with a rifle. The latter told him (Minton) to continue on and he
would attend to the three cavalrymen. Then stepping behind a tree, he leveled his




868               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
puts the figures at fourteen killed, one hundred and five wounded
and thirty-nine missing.)
This engagement, while disastrous to our arms: was nevertheless
beneficial, delaying as it did the enemy's movement against Washington, and enabling the other divisions of the Sixth Corps, with
other troops, to reach the Capitol before Early appeared before it on
the 12th.  But for this battle, indeed, Washington, had Early pushed
rapidly forward, might have fallen, and incalculable disaster been
inflicted upon our cause.  Let that thought blend with the recollections of that bloody day in the memory of all who there faced
the shock of overwhelming numbers, and fought with steady faith
and unfailing endurance in the very shadow of disaster.
The division remained at Ellicott's Mills, whither it retired after
the battle, until the 11th, stragglers coming in every hour, then it
proceeded to Baltimore, where it remained until the 13th, when it
was carried by rail to Washington, to join in the pursuit of Early,
who was now  retreating.  On the 15th, it moved out by way of
Tenallytown, and  proceeding  to  Edward's Ferry, crossed  the
rifle and fired; one of the rebels reeled from his saddle, the other two dismounted and
the pursuit ended. Minton continued on and rejoined the regiment just as the battle
commenced, and took part in the fight. The battle lasted nearly all day. Before our
regiment was ordered out, we lost all our officers killed or wounded but three-Captain
Patterson being one of the three, he being hit in the groin with a spent ball, but not
disabled."
We have been supplied also with the following incident of this battle by an officer of
the Fourteenth:
"When the enemy at Monocacy first struck us, three lines deep against our single
line, his fire was terrific. Our Color-Sergeant (William B. Cottrell) while bravely
waving his colors in front of his regiment, received a ball which before striking him
passed through and severed the flag-staff just below his left hand. He fell forward and
died upon the flag, his life-blood staining its folds. Our colors were immediately raised
by one of the color-guards; he, also, was almost instantly shot down. Then another
raised it up; he was badly wounded and turned it over to the next Corporal, who was
mortally wounded. These four were killed and disabled in almost the time it has taken
me to write it, showing the terrible fire we were exposed to at the battle of Monocacy.
"Our Lieutenant-Colonel was at the first badly wounded, his arm being broken.
Captain Conover, Company D, the next ranking officer, was mortally wounded. The
command then devolved upon Captain Harris, who was shot through the lungs and
carried from the field. The next in rank, Captain Stults, Company H, was shot a few
moments after and died almost instantly. The next in rank, Captain Janeway, Company K, was wounded and left the field, the command devolving on Captain John C.
Patterson. In the meantime, Lieutenant Craig, Company D, was badly wounded and
Captain Conine, Company A, was killed, leaving our regiment with only three officers,
the Adjutant, Lemuel F. Buckalew, First Lieutenant Samuel C. Bailey, Company F,
and Captain Patterson."




THE FOURTEENTH REGIMENT.                         869
Potomac-the army now numbering over thirty thousand men, all
commanded by General Wright.  Pushing through Leesburg and
Snicker's Gap, the force, on the 18th, reached the Shenandoah,
finding the enemy on the opposite side.  Wright at once determined
to force the river, and for that purpose a heavy skirmish line was
advanced  and succeeded in crossing, but being  assailed  by  the
enemy in strong force, was soon driven back in confusion, many
being drowned. During the following day nothing was done on
either side. On the morning of the 20th, it was discovered that
the enemy had left our immediate front, and a portion of our
troops forded the river, but almost immediately re-crossed, when
the column was again put in motion for Washington, which was
reached on the 23d. Four days after, Early again threatening an
invasion, General Wright once more moved to the rescue, proceeding by rapid marches to Harper's Ferry, where he crossed the river
and halted on Bolivar Heights on the 29th.  Early, meanwhile,
had sent a " raiding " party into Pennsylvania, which, on the 30th,
burned Chambersburg, and then retreated  towards Cumberland,
where they were met and worsted by General Kelley, and with
diminished numbers escaped across the Potomac. These and other
operations of the enemy having occasioned wide-spread alarm,
Wright's troops were again ordered to march, and, re-crossing the
river, hurried to Frederick City, and thence to Monocacy, where
General Grant, with a view of learning what was going on, on the
4th of August joined Generals Hunter and Wright.  In obedience
to his orders,8 the troops were two days after returned to Harper's
Ferry, where General Sheridan, arriving, took command, the force
8 "Concentrate all your available force without delay, in the vicinity of Harper's
Ferry, leaving only such railroad guards and garrisons for public property as may be
necessary. Use in this concentrating the railroads; if so doing, time can be saved
from Harper's Ferry; if it is found that the enemy has moved north of the Potomac in
large force, push north, follow them and attack them wherever found; follow them if
driven south of the Potomac as long as it is safe to do so. If it is ascertained that the
enemy has but a small force north of thc Potomac, then push south with the main
force, detaching under a competent commander, a sufficient force to look after the
raiders and drive them to their homes. In detaching such a force, the brigade of cavalry now en route from Washington, via Rockville, may be taken into account.
"There are now on the way to join you three other brigades of cavalry, numbering
at least five thousand men and horse. These will be instructed in absence of further
orders to join you by the south side of the Potomac; one brigade will start to-morrow.
47




370             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
now numbering nearly thirty thousand men, including two divisions
of cavalry.
On the 10th of A ugust the column moved out against the enemy,
coming up with his rear-guard at Cedar Creek on the afternoon
of the 12th, the main body of the rebels being strongly entrenched
on Fisher's Hill.  Sheridan decided not to risk an attack, but to fall
back, with a view of drawing Early from his position. Accordingly
the army countermarched, being sharply pursued, and took posi.
tion at Charlestown, the  enemy occupying  the west bank  of
Opequan Creek, covering Winchester.  About this time, the Fourteenth Regiment was again recruited, swelling the number to about
three hundred men. From this time forward until early in September, both armies were vigilant and active, sending out reconnoitering expeditions and engaging in other movements looking to the
improvement of their respective positions, but no general engagement was brought on.  At length Sheridan deemed the fitting
opportunity for a formidable movement had arrived, and accordingly, having on the 16th discovered the enemy's exact position by
a reconnoissance in force, at two o'clock on the morning of the 19th
he set his army in motion, determined to carry the enemy's position
That position was naturally strong and had been thoroughly fortified.  To assail it our army had to advance through a narrow
ravine, shut in by steep, thickly-wooded hills; to form in an irregular, undulating valley in the enemy's front, and then, advancing
through a wood, attack desperately his center, while flanking and
crushing in his left.  The undertaking was a difficult one, but
the men moved to its performance with alacrity and resolution.
Emerging from  the ravine at ten o'clock, the Sixth Corps took
ground on our left, Rickett's Division pushing forward through
thick wood and over steep hills, where musketry only could be
used, right against the rebel front.  Clearing the woods, the adIn pushing up the Shenandoah Valley, where it is expected you will have to go first or
last, it is desirable that nothing should be left to invite the enemy to return. Take all
provisions, forage and stock wanted for your command, and such as cannot be consumed destroy. It is not desirable that the buildings should be destroyed; they
should rather be protected, but the people should be informed that as long as an army
can subsist among them, recurrences of these raids must be expected, and we are determined to stop them at all hazards."-Extract from Grant's orders to Gcne~ral T'ig7ht.




THE FOURTEENTH REGIMENT.                  371
vance found a broad, open valley before them, with the rebel
army sheltered by woods and rocks beyond, whence a terrific fire
was at once poured into our ranks. But with impetuous gallantry
the column moved forward, carrying the first line of the enemy,
being, however, assailed in turn by fresh troops and pushed back
in disorder and with heavy loss. Additional guns, however, coming up, and our line being strengthened, the enemy was sent
staggering back to his cover, where he again showed obstinate
resistance, and for three hours the fighting raged with desperate
fury. Meanwhile, on the far right, our cavalry had struck the
enemy's left in flank and driven it with heavy loss, and this being
almost instantly discovered by our men in our central front, they
swept forward with a shout, plunging into the woods and putting
the enemy everywhere to flight-the cavalry soon coming in on our
right, and rapidly pursuing the fugitives for miles, capturing hundreds of prisoners as, in utter rout and disintegration, they fled from
the disastrous field.  The victory was complete; three thousand
prisoners and five guns were among its fruits; but it had not
been achieved without serious loss. The Third Division of the
Sixth Corps lost very heavily, the Fourteenth Regiment alone
losing seven killed, sixty-two wounded and one missing.  Its
greatest loss, however, was Major Vredenburg, who, while at the
head of the regiment ordering a charge upon a rebel battery, was
struck by a shell in the breast and instantly killed.  A brave and
faithful officer, he was widely esteemed, and his death saddened
the whole command, darkening with a mournful shadow all the
shining record of that glorious day. But they nobly avenged his
death.  Charging the battery which had thrown the fatal shell,
they captured it with resistless impetuosity, and thus, even when
he was dead, the last order of the brave officer was executed.
Among the killed was Lieutenant Green, commanding Company I,
while Captain Bodwell, of Company E, was wounded.
On the following morning, Early having again taken position at
Fisher's Hill, Sheridan rapidly advanced his forces, and crossing
Cedar Creek, formed in position for attack. On the 22d, an advance was ordered, and the bulk of the Sixth Corps again moved




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THE FOURTEENTH REGIMENT.                 373
straight against the rebel front, while the Nineteenth moved on the
left of their stronghold, and the Eighth, with the Third Division of
the Sixth, passed by a long circuit around on the right, striking
heavily on flank and rear.  The battle lasted some three hours,
when the enemy was driven pell-mell from his fortified position and
retreated in confusion, followed by our victorious columns. During
the day, the Third Division captured six pieces of artillery, two
being taken by the Fourteenth Regiment. In all sixteen pieces of
artillery were taken, together with fifteen stand of colors and one
thousand one hundred prisoners.  The casualties in the Fourteenth in this engagement, numbered but ten killed and thirty
wounded.  The pursuit was kept up for several days, until Early
disappeared in the mountains, when the Sixth Corps went into camp
at Harrisonburg, where it remained until the 6th of October, when
the return march was commenced, the troops finally halting at
Strasburg. Early having now received re-inforcements, and stung
by his repeated defeats, resolved upon a fresh adventure in the Valley, and accordingly, pushing forward his cavalry, they encountered
our force near Strasburg, the fight at first going in their favor, but
resulting finally in a handsome victory for our arms. Early, however, held to his position near Fisher's Hill, carefully re-organizing
his forces, and preparing for the movement by which he hoped to
drive us clear out of the Valley. Meanwhile, our forces held the
line of Cedar Creek, the Eighth Corps on the extreme left, the
Nineteenth Corps next, and the Sixth on the right, and although
the enemy was known to be in force only six miles distant, everything was felt to be secure, even Sheridan supposing that his adversary had no stomach for further fighting, and leaving the Valley
for a hurried visit to Washington. But Early was more wily than
he seemed.  On the night of October 18th, moving out his entire
army, he crossed the mountain separating the branches of the
Shenandoah, forded the north fork, and early on the following
morning, under cover of the fog and darkness, surprised our camps,
turning both flanks and crushing back our astonished troops with
terrible loss, including one thousand two hundred prisoners, twenty-four guns and all our equipage. So silently did the enemy ad



374            NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
vance, and so suddenly did he pounce upon our sleeping camps,
that the men were in many cases prisoners before they were
awakened.  The Eighth Corps, which met the first onset of the
enemy, fled in utter rout with scarcely an attempt at resistance,
hundreds being shot down and captured; but the Sixth Corps, more
accustomed to desperate fighting, promptly rallied, and for a time
held the rebels in check. It soon became apparent, however, that
it was impossible to hold our position, and a general retreat was
accordingly ordered. Up to this time the battle had been utterly
disastrous; our army was practically broken in pieces; and worse
than all, was disheartened and spiritless.  Finally, after falling back
some five miles, the line was partially re-formed by General Wright,
and fortunately was just then reinforced by Sheridan, who, hearing
the sound of battle, had ridden at a thundering pace from Winchester, to see what was going on. He saw only too soon the wreck
and disaster of the day, and instantly set about the work of repairing the mischief. Riding along the lines and speaking inspiringly
to the men, he stimulated them  to new  endeavor, revived their
hopes, and prepared them  for a fresh encounter-meanwhile, also,
strengthening his formations, studying the ground and gathering
every item of information necessary to his purposes. At length
everything was complete.  "We are going to lick them out of their
boots," said Sheridan, and the men, with the words ringing in their
ears, once more assumed the offensive.  After considerable manoeuvering, a charge was ordered, and soon the enemy in turn was
driven back with great slaughter, with the loss of his trains and
artillery, and all the trophies captured from us in the morning-our
cavalry pursuing rapidly and cutting down the fugitives without
mercy.9  In this fight the Fourteenth Regiment, which was commanded by Captain Janeway, again lost heavily-Adjutant Ross
being killed. This officer had been promoted from the ranks for
gallant conduct, and was held in high estimation by the regiment.
The Sixth Corps was not again engaged in the Valley, the cavalry
9 The rebel loss included one thousand five hundred prisoners, twenty-three guns
(not counting the twenty-four lost by us in the morning and recovered at night,) at
least one thousand five hundred small arms, besides most of their caissons, wagons, &c.




THE FOURTEENTH REGIMIENT.                     376
carrying forward the campaign in that quarter until the enemy was
everywhere driven out.  The Fourteenth remained in the vicinity
of Winchester, engaged in various duties, until the 3d of December,
when (with its division) it proceeded to Washington, and thence
by transport to City Point, whence it advanced and occupied the
position on the Weldon Railroad, which had been seized and held
by the Fifth Corps.  Here the Fourteenth was re-organized, having
received recruits to the number of two hundred. Captain Janeway,
for bravery and meritorious conduct, was promoted to the Colonelcy
of the regiment, he and Lieutenant Bailey being the only officers
remaining of all those who were identified with it from the outset.0
The division remained in winter-quarters, with only an occasional
demonstration against the enemy, until late in March, when orders
for a general movement of the armies operating against Richmond
were issued. At this time the Sixth Corps numbered nearly twenty
thousand men, and was in the best possible condition.  The rebels,
greatly weakened by desertions, were everywhere growing restive,
and at length, on the 25th of March, assaulted our lines in front of
the Ninth Corps with great violence, gaining important advantages,
but being subsequently  repulsed with heavy loss in killed and
wounded and some two thousand prisoners. General Meade, convinced that the enemy's lines generally must have been depleted to
strengthen this assault, at once ordered an advance along the front
of the Sixth and Second Corps, holding our works before Petersburg to the left of Fort Steedman, and this was promptly made
with the utmost spirit, the entrenched picket-line of the rebels being
seized and held, every attempt to re-take it failing utterly, with loss
to the enemy.  Thus the last grand advance of the Army of the
Potomac was commenced, and henceforth there was to be no cessation of hostilities until the rebel flag went down in irretrievable
humiliation and defeat.
io Sergeant Terrill's history says: " The officers were now mostly enlisted men, and
by their conduct had won for themselves a lasting reputation. Among those that distinguished themselves and in every action were at their posts, were men that entered
the ranks as privates; the most conspicuous were Captains Wanser, Manning and
Marsh; Lieutenants Foster, Barkclew, Fletcher, Hanning, White and Manderville.
Each one had entered the ranks, and had won for himself his position. Colonel Truex
was still in command of the brigade, Acting Brigadier-General."




376           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
In this movement the Fourteenth Regiment was, as usual, in the
advance. When the advance was ordered, that regiment, with the
Tenth Vermont, then holding the picket-line, supported by two
Ohio regiments, moved forward gallantly to the assault, carrying
the enemy's line. Reinforcements coming up another assault was
ordered, and again the men advanced, rushing, in the face of a
withering fire, straight into the outer works of the enemy, hundreds
of whom  were captured with their arms in their hands.  The
captured works were at once occupied in force, when the Fourteenth, which had fought with great bravery, was again placed
on picket-the corps remaining in position, awaiting orders to
move forward to the assistance of other parts of the army, already
actively engaged at other points on the extended line. At length,
on the night of April 2d, Sheridan having driven the rebels from
their works at Five Forks, substantially demolishing that (the right)
wing of Lee's army, Grant ordered the three corps holding our
entrenchments to assault along the entire line, which was done at
daybreak, the Sixth driving everything before them  up to the
Boydton road-on which, wheeling to the left, towards Hatcher's
Run, it swept down the rear of the rebel entrenchments, capturing many guns and several thousand prisoners, the other corps
meanwhile carrying the main defences of Petersburg on the south,
and rendering its evacuation immediately necessary.  In this grand
movement of the "fighting Sixth," of which a fuller description
is subjoined, the battle-scarred Third Division was ever foremost and ever victorious.  The brigade of Colonel Truex at this
time consisted of five regiments, and in the formation for assault,
the Fourteenth was placed in the second line of battle, the brigade
having the extreme left of the corps. In forming the line, it was
General Wright's intention to attack in such overwhelming force
that failure would be impossible; and orders were given that when
the column had made good its entrance into the rebel works, the
divisions on the right and left should deploy, it being hoped in
this way to drive the enemy from his works as effectually as if a
fresh corps had attacked. To co-operate with this attacking column,
General Park with the Ninth Corps was held in reserve, while




THE FOURTEENTH REGIMENT.                  377
Sheridan far away to the left was thundering on their flank. Jusu
before the attack, General Wright and staff rode up to the picketline; a match was struck, and the time ascertained. It wanted just
fifteen minutes of four o'clock. An officer was at once sent back
to Fort Fisher with orders to fire a signal gun exactly at four
o'clock.  A  few shots were fired by the enemy as the match was
struck, and then all was still; no object was visible at a distance
of a few yards, and of the thousands of men massed, not one could
be seen by the enemy's line.
Suddenly a bright flash leaped out into the darkness, and a loud
report from a twelve-pounder rolled in the air; a minute elapsed,
and a similar sound came from the left some ten miles away,
telling that the signal was understood. The veterans of the different
divisions were now pushed forward, and the dull crash of musketry
and the flash of artillery told that the battle had begun. The
enemy was surprised but soon rallied, and a terrific strife ensued.
The entire line from right to left became heavily engaged. But
victory came with the dawn. General Wright's assertion that he
would go through them  like a knife was fulfilled.  Their entire
line was captured, together with thousands of prisoners, numerous
pieces of artillery and many battle-flags. But to retain what we
had gained it was necessary to gain still more; and for this purpose, the Third Division was deployed to the left to drive the
enemy from forts on other parts of the line. The two brigades
under command of Colonels Truex and Keifer pushed gallantly
forward, taking possession of a portion of the rebel lines, and soon
struck the Southside Railroad, destroying it for over ten miles. Later
in the day, when our men had completely cleared the rebels out of
that part of the line, the work of destroying the road was resumed.
The division still pushed towards the rebel left, and at one point
had as severe a fight as any which occurred during the day. The
rebels had a battery of six guns, which they served in magnificent
style, but our line was rapidly advanced and the guns were added
to the number already captured. From this point the progress to
the left was comparatively easy, the enemy being in full retreat.
From first to last the Fourteenth fought with the greatest bravery,
48




378                NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
and  to  it, equally with the  most efficient regiment of the corps,
belongs the credit of the magnificent success of that glorious
day.1
11 The following is an extract from Colonel Truex's report:
" I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of this brigade
at the assault on the works in front of Petersburg, April 2, 1865, which resulted in the
capture of the entire line and evacuation of the above-mentioned city. In accordance
with instructions received from Brigadier-General Seymour, commanding the division,
I moved the brigade at twelve o'clock, p. m., April 1, 1865, to the position which had
previously been designated for it to occupy, viz: In the rear of our picket-line in front
of Fort Welch, and on the extreme left of this corps.  At about half-past twelve
o'clock, m., I reached the ground and formed my brigade in three lines of battle, as
follows: Left line, composed of the Tenth Vermont Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel
George B. Damon commanding, on tie right, and the One Hundred and Sixth New
York Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel Alvah W. Briggs commanding, on the left, distant
about twenty paces from the picket-line. Second line, composed of the Fourteenth
New Jersey Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel J. J. Janeway commanding, on the right,
and the One Hundred and Fifty-first New York Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles
Bogardus commanding, on the left. Third line, the Eighty-seventh Pennsylvania
Volunteers, Captain James Tearney commanding. This latter regiment was composed
almost entirely of raw troops, five companies having joined it within two weeks of this
movement, and most of whom had never before been under fire.  The troops were
placed in position without attracting the attention of the enemy, although within one
hundred and fifty yards of his picket line. About half an hour after, the enemy on
their extreme left opened, suddenly, a very severe and galling picket fire, which ran
down the line to my front, which dontinued for nearly one hour. Under this fire my
brigade remained quiet, not answering with a single shot or otherwise betraying our
presence to the enemy, although a number were killed and wounded.  Too much
praise cannot be given to my officers for the splendid manner in which they moved
their men into position, and afterwards controlling their commands under this severe
picket fire. At about half-past four o'clock, a. m., the signal gun to advance was fired
from Fort Fisher, when I ordered the brigade to advance. Instantly a terrible fire of
musketry and artillery was opened upon us by the enemy, but my men gallantly and
bravely advanced at a double-quick and in a few moments scaled the breastworks,
which at this place were from twelve to fifteen feet high; driving the enemy before
them and holding the position. I must here state that when the order to advance was
given and the enemy opened on us, the Eighty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers broke
to the front, passing through the second and first lines and becoming temporarily the
first line. The first colors inside the works were those of the Tenth Vermont Volunteers, followed immediately by those of the One Hundred and Sixth New York Volunteers and Fourteenth New Jersey Volunteers. We here captured three hundred prisoners and either five or six guns. The first line, composed of the Tenth Vermont and
One Hundred and Sixth New York Volunteers, were instantly re-formed inside the
works, wheeled to the left and charged down the line at a double-quick, the balance of
the command following as they entered the works, driving and doubling up the enemy
as they advanced. The next fort was seized with but little opposition, my troops capturing abo it one hundred and fifty prisoners and two guns. Again advancing, I
ordered the brigade to charge on the next fort. The enemy here endeavored to make
a stand, but my command pushed forward and compelled him  to evacuate it,
when the fort was instantly occupied by my brigade, the first colors to enter being
those of the Fourteenth New Jersey Volunteers. Here my command was joined by a
small portion of the Second Brigade, which remained with me until I fell back temporarily to the second fort, where they were ordered to the right and joined to their




TItE FOURTEENTH  REGIMENT.                           379
Early on the 3d, being informed that Petersburg was evacuated,
and that the pickets of the Twenty-fourth Corps had advanced into
the city, the Fourteenth, after returning to its former camp, joined
in the pursuit of the enemy, bivouacking for the night near Sutherland Station, and thence pushing forward to Sailor's Creek.  Here
the brigade assailed the enemy's flank, doubling it up and driving
him  for a distance of a mile.  Upon reaching the hill directly in
front of the creek, however, the rebels were found strongly posted
in the rear of some works; and an assault was consequently necessary.  The stream  in front of the brigade was some seventy-five
yards wide, but the command moved bravely forward, advancing
proper commands. We here captured about one hundred prisoners and seized twenty
guns. This fort we held about twenty-five minutes, when the enemy advanced in two
lines of battle, one in front of the fort and the other from the woods on the right,
compelling us to fall back temporarily to the second fort above-mentioned. On this
charge of the enemy we lost heavily in killed and wounded, besides many prisoners,
my men falling back reluctantly and contesting the ground inch by inch; but were
overpowered by superior numbers. The enemy was enabled to hold this fort for some
length of time, and it was not until the arrival of a battery to our aid that we were
successful in dislodging him, capturing forty prisoners and two pieces of cannon. In
the capture of this fort the sharpshooters of the brigade deserve especial mention in
silencing the rebel guns by picking off the gunners wherever they made their appearance. For this purpose a number of them were deployed on the left of the works in
the direction of a house facing the fort.
"The brigade was formed in column of regiment and advancing on the left flank of
the fort, compelled its surrender. Without halting, we advanced on the next fort,
which was evacuated almost without a struggle, leaving in our possession four guns,
caissons and horses. Still pressing on about half a mile, we met the Twenty-fourth
Corps, when a halt was ordered.
"At this point I was ordered to countermarch my brigade and proceed in the direction of Petersburg.
"At the'Brick Chimneys,' in front of Petersburg, and on the extreme left of the
Ninth Corps, we remained until four o'clock, p. m., when I was ordered to move my
brigade and occupy a line which in the morning had been occupied by the enemy's
pickets. Earthworks were thrown up, a picket-line established and the troops bivouacked for the night. The result of the day's operations may be summed up as follows: Five hundred and ninety prisoners and fifteen cannon.
"I have every reason to be proud of the regiments composing my brigade, the Tenth
Vermont, One Hundred and Sixth New York, Fourteenth New Jersey, Fifteenth New
York and Eighty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, and the coolness, judgment and
gallantry of their commanding officers, Lieutenant-Colonel George B. Damon, Lieutenant-Colonel A. W. Briggs, Lieutenant-Colonel J. J. Janeway, Lieutenant-Colonel
Charles Bogardus and Captain James Tearney. My thanks are also due to the field and
line officers for the efficient manner in which they discharged their duties during the
eventful day. I also mention with pleasure members of my staff, who were throughout the whole day conspicuous for promp action, courage and personal exposure:
"Captain and Brevet-Major Charles K. Leonard, A. A. G.; Captain and BrevetMajor Hiram W. Day, Brigade Inspector; Captain and Brevet-Major Charles M. Bartruff, A. A. D. C.; Captain Benjamin F. Miller, A. A. D. C,"




380           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
through mud and water to their hips, and under a severe fire from
the enemy. Immediately upon reaching the opposite side of the
stream, the line was re-formed and advanced to the crest of the
hill, driving the enemy from his works. Then, wheeling to the
left, Truex pushed his column against the left flank of the enemy,
pouring in a rapid and concentrated fire, which was continued until
a flag of truce was displayed, when the firing ceased. Upon moving forward, however, to gain information, a severe fire from the
enemy some distance to the right was again opened, when the
brigade was once more ordered forward. But at this moment, an
officer rode up with Major Pegram, Inspector-General upon the
staff of General Ewell.  Major Pegram was the bearer of the flag
of truce, and said to Colonel Truex, "I surrender Lieutenant
General Ewell and staff and his command." Up to this moment
the firing on our left was kept up by our troops, but it now immediately ceased. With Major Pegram were about thirty officers and
enlisted men.
This was the last engagement in which the Fourteenth, now reduced to about one hundred men, participated. Proceeding to Barksdale, the command remained in camp until the 24th, when it moved
to Danville, arriving four days later, the movement looking to a cooperation with Sherman against the rebel General Johnston. Almost
simultaneously, however, with the arrival at that place, news of
Johnston's surrender was received; and the war was at an end.
The regiment remained at Danville until the 16th of May, when
it proceeded by rail to Richmond, whence, on the 24th, it marched
to Washington, reaching Bailey's Cross-Roads, eight miles from the
Capital, on the 2d of June. Here the men detached from the regiment were ordered back, and the new recruits transferred to the
Second New Jersey with two hundred and thirty men. On the
8th, the corps was reviewed at Washington, and on the 19th, the
Fourteenth was formally mustered out of service, proceeding on
the following day to Trenton, where, on the 29th, having received
their final payment, the men who had shared so many perils
together, and for nearly three years had " endured hardness like
good soldiers" for the Nation's sake, exchanged farewells and sepa



THE FOURTEENTH  REGIIENT.                           381
rated into the old familiar paths of peace, wherefrom  their feet had
been lured only at the call of solemn and imperious duty.12
12 " The regiment had been gone nearly three years, leaving New Jersey with nine
hundred and fifty active men, two hundred and thirty returned; during that time,
having participated in numerous battles and skirmishes, fighting each time with that
bravery which the New Jersey troops were noted for. In that time the regiment had
traveled by rail one thousand and fifty-one miles, by water six hundred and twentyeight miles, and on foot two thousand and fifteen miles."-Sergeant Terrill's History.
The following, copied from a descriptive list of a soldier of the Fourteenth, shows of
what stuff that regiment was composed:
" Sergeant John Grover, Jr., Company F, Fourteenth New Jersey Volunteers: This
soldier has proved himself wanting in none of the things that go to make up the perfect soldier. Whether in camp, on the march, or before the enemy, he has always
developed the noblest characteristics and the most consummate worth. Never out of
the ranks, never complaining, never lacking in obedience or in knowledge, he has been
a model worthy of imitation by inferiors and superiors. He has been in every engagement in which the regiment has participated, and was recommended for a medal of
honor for consummate bravery at Cold Harbor and Monocacy. He was wounded at the
engagement in front of Petersburg on the 2d of April, 1865. After entering the
enemy's works, he was captured by reason of the overwhelming numbers of the foe,
and when they were compelled to evacuate the works on a second charge of our forces,
his dastardly captors deliberately shot him, which necessitated the amputation of his
arm. He deserves honorable and lasting mention and remembrance.
"VINCENT R. MARSH, Captain."




CHAPTER XIII.
THE FIFTEENTH REGIMENT.
TrHE Fifteenth Regiment was organized  at Flemington in July
and  August, 1862.   Three companies were  recruited  in Sussex
County, two in Warren, two in Hunterdon, two in Morris and one
in Somerset, and  all were composed of men of superior physical
strength and capacities of endurance.  The regiment was mustered
into the United States service on the 25th of August, and on the
27th left for Washington, numbering nine hundred and twenty-five
officers and men, Colonel Samuel Fowler commanding.'  Reaching
1 The roster of the regiment was as follows:
Colonel, Samuel Fowler; Lieutenant-Colonel, Edward L. Campbell; Major, James
I. Brown; Adjutant, William P. Seymour; Quartermaster, Lowe Emerson; Surgeon,
Redford Sharp; Assistant-Surgeons, George R. Sullivan, George Trumpore; Chaplain,
Alanson A. Haines. Company A-Captain, Lambert Boeman; First Lieutenant, Thomas
P. Stout; Second Lieutenant. John R. Emery. Company B-Captain, Alfred S. Burt;
First Lieutenant, Charles M. Fairclo; Second Lieutenant, Charles R. Paul. Company
C-Captain, Ira J. Lindsley; First Lieutenant, Erastus II. Taylor; Second Lieutenant,
Samuel R. Connett.  Company D-Captain, James Walker; First Lieutenant, Lewis
Van Blarcom; Second Lieutenant, James S. McDanolds. Compay E —Captain, John
H. Vanderveer; First Lieutenant, Stephen H. Bogardus; Second Lieutenant, Ellis
Hamilton. Comnpany J-Captain, George C. King; First Lieutenant, Owen H. Day;
Second Lieutenant, John H. Vanderveer, Jr. Company G-Captain, William H. Slater;
First Lieutenant,       -; Second Lieutenant, John D. Trimmer. Comnpany Il
-Captain, Andrew J. Wight; First Lieutenant, William D. Cornish; Second Lieutenant, James Bentley. Cnompany I-Captain, -      --; First Lieutenant, Cornelius
C. Shimer; Second Lieutenant, William W. Van Voy. Company f —Captain,; First Lieutenant, William I. Edsall; Second Lieutenant, John Fowler.
Samuel Fowler, Colonel of the Fifteenth Regiment, was a man of great force of
character, of fine abilities, and withal a patriot of the very purest order. Descended
from a loyal ancestry, educated in the school of Jackson democracy, hating secession
and nullification, and holding fealty to the Union to be a paramount duty-he was
among the first to take an advanced position in support of the Government in its
struggle with treason, and, though violently assailed by some of his own party friends,
whose sympathies with the loyal cause were less active than his own, sternly and
uncompromisingly held the ground he had assumed-laboring with untiring vigilance
to facilitate the enlistment of troops, build up confidence in the Government, and in
every possible manner promote a right determination of the contest. His influence,




THE FIFTEENTH  REGIMENT.                        383
the Capital, it encamped at Tennallytown, where it remained for
about a month, engaged in drill and acquiring discipline for future
service.   While  here, the men  were  also  employed  upon  the
defences of Washington, slashing timber, making military roads,
and  throwing  up  earthworks-Fort Kearney  being constructed
entirely by their labor.
On the 30th of September, the regiment proceeded by rail to
Frederick, Maryland, and thence marched across to Bakersville,
passing the battle-field of Antietam  and Sharpsburg.  At Bakersville, it was assigned to the First (Jersey) Brigade, First Division,
Sixth Army Corps, and henceforth participated in the hardships,
battles and triumphs of the Army of the Potomac.  The month
of delay which followed was diligently improved by the regiment,
field-exercise and drill being practiced daily; and when, at last, the
army moved across the Potomac, the new recruits had been transformed into soldiers who were worthy to march with the veterans
whose deeds had already covered our arms with undying glory.
The order to march, when (on the 31st of October,) the army
broke  camp, was obeyed  by  the Fifteenth  with  true soldierly
alacrity.  But one thing was universally regretted, and that was
the inability of Colonel Fowler, the chivalrous commander, who
was dangerously ill with typhoid fever, to accompany the regiment.
His  ability and  energy had  been  manifested  in recruiting and
rapidly preparing for the field an unusually fine body of men;
but his high ambition to lead them into actual combat was never
gratified, and he never after assumed command.  When he rejoined
especially among the young men of Sussex being great, his services Were from the
outset of the utmost value, whole companies being recruited by his efforts alone. In
all the war meetings of the county, his voice pleaded forcibly for unanimity and energy
in the work of the public defense; and to him, more than to any other man, it is due
that Sussex during the whole period of the war was represented in the field by some
of the best and bravest troops connected With the service. In the organization of the
Fifteenth Regiment, his influence was particularly manifest, scores of young men
flocking to its standards who, but for his connection with it, would never have gone
a-field. That Colonel Fowler did not always approve all the military acts of the Government is undoubtedly true, but he kept his faith in the Cause all the same, permitting no opposition or reproaches to sweep him from his anchorage. He did not
survive to see the happy termination of the war, but had he done so, no man in all the
land would have hailed with keener rejoicing than he the overthrow of the rebellion,
which he abhorred as at once a blunder and a crime.




384              NEW  JEiSEV AND THE REBELLION.
the regiment after the first battle of Fredericksburg, it was with a
shattered constitution, and though he followed the army for a few
weeks, the surgeons pronounced him  unfit for duty, and he was
mustered out of service.  He was ever held in affectionate remembrapee by officers and men, and when intelligence of his death
afterwards reached the command, not a few  stout hearts were
wrung by grief that so promising a career had so soon and unexpectedly been closed.2
At New Baltimore, General McClellan took his farewell of the
army, and attended by General Burnside, his successor, did the
New Jersey Brigade the honor of riding entirely around their camp,
receiving a cordial welcome.  After a week's delay at Warrenton,
the army moved to Stafford Court House, with Fredericksburg as
its objective. Another delay, however, gave the enemy an opportunity to concentrate his forces, and when, on the night of the 10th
of December, the advance was resumed, Fredericksburg was in a
state of perfect defense.  The Fifteenth reached Stafford Heights
on the morning of the 11th, but did not become engaged, though
witnesses of the cannonading of the doomed town.  At sundown
the army was massed in the plain north of the Rappahannock,
during the night the pontoon bridges were laid, and at daylight
the First Brigade crossed, moving rapidly up the hill to the edge
of the plain, in full view of the enemy on the heights. At two
o'clock, p. m., forming in line of battle, it advanced swiftly across
the plain, the rebel batteries meanwhile opening vigorously. The
men of the Fifteenth were under fire for the first time, but they
did not falter. Before the rebels had fairly got the range, Deep
Run Creek was reached, and in the chasm it opened the regiment
found protection, though a few casualties occurred from the explo2 Lieutenant-Colonel Edward L. Campbell had come out of the battle of McClellan's
Maryland campaign with honor, and joined the Fifteenth Regiment on the march to
Bakersville. Here, upon the sickness of Colonel Fowler, he took command, which he
held during most of the time the regiment was in the service, leading it in nearly every
great battle in which it participated. One who served with the regiment says: "If the
Fifteenth ever performed any efficient service for the country, or by its conduct reflected any honor upon New Jersey, it was due more to Edward L. Campbell than any
other man. His bravery, integrity, capacity and diligence, stamped the regiment with
a character whose value was known in many critical junctures and hard-fought battles.''




THE  VIFT EXTHl  REGIMENT.                         885
sion of shells.:  On  the following day, 13th, the army advanced
early in the morning right and left, and a fearful struggle soon
commenced.   During most of the day the Fifteenth was stationed
along the line of the railroad, keeping up a musketry fire, and
now   and  then  charging  upon  the  enemy, with  little  loss  on
either side. Late in the afternoon, a more decided movement was
3 "The rebel fire was direct and close, and the exposure of a little knot of men or
officers would bring a shell just over their heads or into their midst. Colonel Ryerson
had ridden up the further bank and was seated on his horse, when a shell came directly
towards him and seemed to explode on the very spot he occupied. Doctor Oakley exclaimed,' Harry Ryerson is gone!' The smoke cleared away and he was seen to ride
on unharmed, having marked the coming missile and thrown himself down on his
horse's neck just in time and far enough to escape."-Chaplaiqn YHaines' Notes.
The following is the official report of the action of the regiment:
" My command broke camp at White Oak Church, Virginia, on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 28th, and marched to the bank of the Rappahannock, near Franklin's crossing,
where it bivouacked until towards morning, when it was moved to the river, and
crossed in boats just before daylight on the morning of the 29th, taking up a position
immediately on the left bank. Remained there until the morning of the third day of
May-a part of which time was employed in doing our post duty, immediately in the
face of the enemy.
" On the morning of the 3d instant, I was ordered to the front at about daybreak,
and was assigned a position in support of a battery on the extreme left, which was
hotly engaging the enemy. Remained upon this duty, taking up various positions,
and part of the time exposed to a severe scattering flank fire from the enemy's line of
skirmishers, until the enemy was driven from his position on the heights above Fredericksburg, and the line on the left was ordered to retire towards that place, when I
was left in the rear as a support to our retiring skirmishers, by order of the General
commanding the division. Everything was brought from the field without difficulty,
as the enemy did not follow up. After procuring ambulances, (to get which I was
compelled to send to the city of Fredericksburg,) and moving the wounded left
upon the field during the rapid movement, I proceeded upon the line of march
of the corps. Arriving some distance out of the city, on the plank road, I learned
that the enemy was making stout resistance in front, and that the First Brigade
was about to engage him.  Marching as rapidly as practicable, I arrived at the
front at about five o'clock, p. m., and without halting, was immediately ordered
by the General commanding the corps to engage the enemy on the right of the
road, in a thick wood, in which the enemy had taken a position, and effectually
resisted any attempt to dislodge him.  My command advanced about one hundred
yards, through a dense and in places impassable undergrowth, to within about thirty
yards of the enemy's position, where it engaged at least four of his regiments, with,
as I am convinced, a terrible effect, but without driving him from his well-chosen position. Just at dark, my ammunition being entirely exhausted, and the enemy's fire
destructive, I retired in good order, the enemy showing no disposition to follow. I
have the satisfaction of saying for my command, that not a man left the line of battle
except the wounded, and when the rolls were called immediately upon arriving in the
open field, every man was present or properly accounted for except those who were
killed, wounded or missing in action, the latter being but five, and all probably killed
or wounded. My wounded were all brought off during or after the action, except
possibly the five mentioned above, not found on account of the dense undergrowth of
bushes.
49




886               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
made on  the immediate front, but the brigade was forced back
with very considerable loss, Colonel Hatch, of the Fourth Regiment,
who led the charge, being wounded in the knee, requiring amputation of the leg, from the effects of which he died a few days
after.  A  large number of the Fourth were captured, together with
a number from the Twenty-third and Fifteenth. The total loss in
the latter regiment was about thirty.   Among  the killed was
Sergeant-Major John P. Fowler, whose name had been proposed
for a commission.  Captain  Slater, of Frenchtown, lost a leg, and
bore the amputation with much patience and Christian fortitude.
Major James M. Brown, who displayed great courage and activity,
received  a painful contusion  in  the thigh from  a bullet, which
disabled him  for some time.  In addition to this hurt, an old wound,
received while a Captain in the Third Regiment. whic] shattered
his jaw and partially paralized his tongue, broke out afresh, rendering his resignation, when cold weather set in, imperative.  He was
subsequently appointed  Provost-Marshal of the Fourth  Congressional District, and continued to hold the office until it was abolished
with the return of peace.4
" Sunday night my command bivouacked upon the battle-field. During the engagcment of Monday, was assigned to various positions, a part of the time in support of
batteries, when at night the artillery was ordered towards the river; I was ordered to
follow it. Re-crossed the river just before daylight in the morning, and went into camp
on the right bank. On Friday, the 8th instant, marched to my present place of encampment. I would respectfully call attention to the conduct of Lieutenant-Colonel
Campbell. He was seen in the thickest of the fight and repeatedly he went to the
front alone, trying to get not only his own men, but those of other regiments to follow.
I am much indebted to our Chaplain (Haines) for his services in transmitting orders and
attending to the wounded. All my officers behaved well, especially while taking into
consideration it was their first engagement.
"I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"W. H. PENROSE, Colonel Conlilanding Brigade."
~' "Mitchel Mulvey, Company G, was the first man of the regiment killed. At the
time shots were being exchanged with the rebel pickets. He was cautioned not to
expose himself; but exclaimed:' Hush, don't tell a Jersey boy to keep back when the
enemy is in sight.' He had fixed his attention on a rebel sharpshooter who fired
from behind a tree. When, at length, the rebel exposed himself in firing, le took aim
and fired. The rebel was seen to tumble over, evidently killed. At the same moment
Mitchell fell back dead, shot through the brain.  As the regiment was relieved on
Sabbath morning, a plunging bullet-shot passed through the knapsack and body of
Alexander S. Sergeant, Company F, killing him. Ezekiel C. Quick, Company G, was
shot through the lungs and lived several days, expressing his entire willingness to
suffer for his country and his strong faith in the Saviour. He sent several messages to




THE FIFTEENTH  REGIMENT.                           387
Bravely as the army had fought, it could not accomplish the
impossible, and on the night of the 15th, General Burnside withdrew  his forces, who settled down at Falmouth  and White Oak
Ch.urch.  The winter which followed, marked by no signs of activity other than the " Mud March," was for the most part one of great
gloom and suffering. The troops, especially those who experienced
for the first time a winter's hardships in the field, felt it severely.
The typhoid fever prevailed; without proper tents or facilities for
building log huts, lying on the wet, spongy ground, without vegetable food, illy-provided with  shoes and  clothing, and  firewood
scarce, the men suffered and died by hundreds.  Among the victims
in the Fifteenth was the Iospital-Steward, John R. Hilton, who
died nobly in the path of duty.> But at length, the winter, dreary
and sad, passed away, and active work again commenced.  In the
latter part of April, 1863, Colonel William H. Penrose, a native of
Michigan and a Lieutenant in the Third United States Infantry,
took command of the regiment, and on the 29th, having broken
camp at White Oak Church the day previous, the brigade crossed
the  Rappahannock at Franklin's crossing, to  co-operate  in  the
movement against the enemy at Chancellorsville, whither the bulk
the men of his company and as a dying man warned them td be in earnest in preparing
for eternity.
" The scenes at the hospital on the night of the 13th of December, at the Barnard
House, were most impressive. The parlors, chambers, corridors, cellars, garret, courtyard and garden of the fine old mansion were crowded with the wounded and dying.
Blood and death were on every side.  General Bayard was already dead; Colonel
Hatch lay in delirium; one sufferer after another had been laid upon the amputating
table and was removed with arm or leg gone, and many a brave man's corpse was
hastily buried in the garden, and many more surrendering back their souls to God.
"It is proper to notice the fidelity of the medical officers of the regiment. Doctor
Redford Sharp, the principal Surgeon, was most active and efficient.  Though
detailed to the Division Hospital, he was able to do much for the wounded of the
regiment brought to him, and was specially tender and careful of all under his charge.
He.gave nearly five years to the cause of humanity in the army, and his name deserves
remembrance along with the good and the brave. Doctor George R. Sullivan was most
skilful in the treatment of disease and very efficient in the duties of his profession.
He was attached to the regiment till the organization of the Thirty-ninth, when he was
promoted as its Surgeon."-N-~otes of Chaplain liaines.
" "His last act was one of humanity. The day before his death, with the fever upon
him, he went a distance of half a mile to see and prescribe for some sick men. He
died at peace with the world and his Maker. His remains were taken to Belvidere, his
native place, and a beautiful monument, erected by the officers of the regiment, marks
his grave."




388              NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
of the army was already moving.  During the day, (29th,) the Fifteenth was kept in position near the river, but in the evening was
sent on picket in the open plain, within four hundred feet of the
enemy.  Two days after rifle trenches were dug, which it occupied
until the night of May  2d. when our skirmishers drove in the
enemy's line and held the plain to the foot of the heights. On the 3d,
at daylight, the brigade moved rapidly out from its position, in the
face of a sharp rebel fire-the Fifteenth reaching the turnpike road
and having a severe skirmish, in which it lost several men killed
and three bodies left on the field, the loss in all being twenty, subsequently, the regiment being captured, the Fifteenth about noon
was withdrawn from  the extreme left, and marching through the
town, pushed up the plank road over the heights in the direction of
Salem Church.  At four o'clock, p. m., the command halted, and in
obedience to orders, two hours after, was hurried into position on
the right of the brigade, encountering the heaviest fire it had yet
made.  Charging gallantly through a thick wood, the enemy was
found advantageously posted behind a wall and  ditch, but the
Fifteenth, with a royal courage, bravely faced all obstacles, maintaining the fight until eight o'clock, p. m., when, owing to a want of
concert of action, it vas compelled to fall back, having lost in killed,
wounded and missing, one hundred and thirty men, which number,
added to the twenty of the morning, swelled the losses of the day
to one hundred and fifty.6 The fighting at Chancellorsville having
meanwhile proved disastrous, it was found necessary to withdraw
the army, which in the case of the Sixth Corps was a hazardous
undertaking, but was accomplished on the night of the 4th without
loss.
6 " Captain Ira Lindsley, of Morristown, an excellent officer, fell at the head of his
company. Lieutenant John Fowler, had been in charge of the ambulance train, but
anticipating the moving of the army, had some days previous requested to be returned
to his regiment. He came back only to be instantly killed at Salem Heights. The
Color-Sergeant, Eugene Hicks, of Clinton, a fine, noble-looking young man whose
name was on the list for promotion, fell with the colors in his hands, pierced with a
bullet through the brain. Corporal Samuel Rubadon seized the falling flag and carried
it right forward through the rest of the fight. Corporal Simon Nevins, who had left
Rutgers College to enlist, received his death wound. Warren N. Dunham, a true soldier and lovely Christian youth; Joshua D. Banker, who had recently professed his
faith in Christ, and many interesting and noble young men, were left dead upon the
field." —Diary of Challain Hmaines.




THE FIFTEENTH REGIMENT.                    389
After re-crossing the Rappahannock at Banks' Ford, the regiment
returned to its old camp, where it remained until June 6th, when it
broke camp, and on the evening of the 7th, once more crossed the
river at Franklin's crossing, and taking position in the old rifle pits,
awaited an expected attack.  During the ensuing week strong
works were constructed on the -brow of the hill overlooking the
plain below Fredericksburg, but no conflict resulting, the regiment
on Saturday night re-crossed the pontoon bridge, afterwards hauling
the boats from the river-a few men in the darkness and confusion
being left behind.' Still moving forward-the army now being
ordered in pursuit of Lee, who was moving into Pennsylvania,
the regiment finally reached Fairfax Station, where, after a halt of
some days, it again (on the 26th of June,) advanced, crossing the
Potomac near Edward's Ferry.   On the night of July 1st, leaving
the vicinity of Manchester, Maryland, it moved in a northwesterly
direction until it struck the Littleton pike, and thence through
Littleton and Two Taverns, reaching Gettysburg at three o'clock,
p. m., of the 2d, having marched thirty-five miles in sixteen hours,
and mostly without food.  At seven o'clock, p. m., the brigade
was sent to the front, but though the battle was in progress, did
not become engaged.  The ground in its front was that from which
Sickles had been driven, but the enemy in turn being driven back,
the men slept in position on their arms.  But the wakeful ones
heard, all through the night, the moans and cries of the wounded,
who had been gathered into the houses or barns, or lay uncared
for upon the bloody field.
On the morning of the 3d, the brigade, after various movements,
occupied a rocky knoll, something like an eighth of a mile from
Little Round Top, in the direction of the town.  The enemy being,
after three hours' stubborn fighting, repulsed and the position
secured upon the right, a lull in the combat ensued, interrupted
only by artillery fighting from the left. But all the morning Lee
"Among those left were Hiram Sands and Albert Fowler, who subsequently had
quarters in the Libby Prison and at Danville. When the bridges were all taken up,
one man, left on the other side, came to the bank and most piteously begged for a boat
to come for him, but it was too late and between him and us there was a great gulf."Diary of Chaplain taines.




390            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
had been placing his artillery and massing his troops for a grand
assault, and at length one hundred and fifty pieces, opened all
along his lines, hurling great showers of missiles against our position. Fortunately, however, the First Brigade escaped with only a
trifling loss.  "Upon the rocky knoll, fronted with trees," writes
a member of the Fifteenth, "our.position was indefinite, and most
of the missiles passed over our heads harmlessly, bursting in our
rear, or going too low, struck in the hill below us.  Several men
were injured by shells exploding in the air, but in general the
regiment was unharmed.  With arms firmly grasped the men
waited the coming assault for over two hours, when the fire on
either side slackened and in contrast with the previous dread
explosions there was a great calm.  But the enemy was forming,
and emerging from  their cover, fifteen or twenty thousand Confederates moved out to the deadly assault.  With strange emotion
we watched their coming; it was not fear, it was not surprise, but
every man was silent, and grasped his weapon more closely. When
the enemy reached the middle of the plain, our batteries began
to play upon him, cutting through his lines, but he came on
with increasing rapidity, till the fire of musketry, which had been
withheld, was poured into him.  He dropped rapidly, but nearer
and nearer swept the charging columns. Most of our batteries
were out of ammunition and ceased their firing, and it was left
to the opposing bodies of infantry to determine the contest.  As
the charging column swept nearer, a heavier and more deadly fire
stayed a body of North Carolina troops for a moment, when they
broke and ran; a large number throwing down their arms and
coring in as prisoners.  Pickett's Division had a less distance of
open ground to traverse, and so great was the impetus it acquired
that it passed directly over our outer-line of stone wall and rough
works, and drove back the first line of troops, belonging to part of
the Second Corps.  The rebel colors, indeed, were planted right
on the breastworks.  The critical hour of the day had come, but
General Hancock was equal to the emergency, and gathering troops
from right and left, and halting and re-forming the broken columns,
a new line was formed, which, though bending back some distance




THE FIFTEENTH REGIMEiNT.                   391
from  the former front, was a formidable barrier to the enemy's
further progress. Then from right and left, assailing either flank,
was poured in a destructive fire, and our men came pressing closer,
making the circuit smaller.  The fighting was short and decisive.
The rebels recoiled before the deadly fire, threw away their arms
in token of submission. and on all sides crouched close to the earth
in dismay.  Some thousands were captured and moved away to the
rear, our troops at once regaining and holding their former line.
Soon after, another charging column moved across the plain, but a
withering artillery fire played upon their ranks, and a portion of
our troops, leaping the entrenchments, assaulted their flank and
soon put them  to flight, with heavy loss of killed and prisoners.
Before sundown the fighting ceased, but the Confederates had failed
and their commander was convinced of the hopelessness of assaulting the position of the Union Army.  It was Fredericksburg
reversed; but wiser than Burnside, Lee did not persist in hurrying
his columns again and again to certain destruction. The Fifteenth
witnessed all from their position, but though ready for duty were
not summoned to actual fighting."
The next day, 4th, was spent without a contest. Each side buried
its dead and sent the wounded to the rear, within its own lines.
The rebels during the day threw up works, but at night began their
retreat.  At once the army started in pursuit, and early Sunday
morning, the Fifteenth took the road on the left and passing along
the base of Little Round Top, and through Plum Run meadow and
the wheat field, and peach orchard where Sickles' Corps had suffered so heavily on the 2d, came in about two hours upon their
deserted hospitals. Following cautiously, at night it came upon
their rear-guard near Fairfield, and a sharp skirmish followed.
After halting all night and the next day until four o'clock, p. m.,
at Fairfield, the brigade again marched, and at sunrise reached
Emmettsburg, the enemy having evacuated the whole region. The
pursuit was continued for several days, and on the 12th, near I-lagerstown, there was a skirmish in which two men of the Fifteenth were
wounded, one by a bullet through the foot, and Jacob 0. Burdett
through both thighs. The former subsequently died in the hospital.




392          TNEW JERSIE  AND THE REBEiLLON.
Hagerstown was captured, and two clays later the command reached
Williamsport, but the rebels were safely beyond the river.  On
the 19th of July, the brigade re-crossed the Potomac at Berlin and
marched through the Loudon Valley, arriving at Warrenton on the
25th, where it went into camp and remained until September 15th;
two days later, moving to Culpepper Court House, it again encamped; and the remainder of the year was passed without participating in any engagements.  The Fifteenth marched with the army
to Centreville and back again to the Rappahannock, was present,
though not engaged at the capture of Rappahannock Station, and
after the movement to Mine Run went into winter-quarters two
miles from Brandy Station. Here timber being abundant, the regiment built very comfortable huts, and the camp was finely laid out
upon a ridge of ground.  On the 17th of January, 1864, a chapel
built of logs, roofed with canvass, and twenty feet by thirty in size,
was opened for religious services in the regiment. This rude house
of worship witnessed many a scene of devotion, and the evident
presence of the Holy Spirit, and was the spiritual birth-place of
many souls. After its opening, services were held twice on the
Sabbath and every evening of the week, excepting Wednesday,
when the Literary Society had the use of the building. Soon after
the opening of the Chapel an unusual religious interest was awakened throughout the regiment.  The house was well filled night
after night. The preaching seemed to reach the heart, and the
meetings for prayer after tattoo were deeply interesting.  Meetings
for inquirers were opened and numbers of the awakened began to
come.  Three communion services were held in this building. At
the first, January 24th, two men of the Fifteenth and five from the
Third made public profession of their faith in Christ. At the
second, March 27th, nineteen made a profession of religion and
eleven of them were baptized.  The third, May 1st, witnessed the
reception of twenty more into the regimental church, six of whom
were baptized.  The services of May 1st were very largely attended
and numbers expressed their comfort in the exercises, an officer who
received his death wound on the 6th, saying it was the most solemn
administration of the sacrament he had ever attended.  The last




THE FIFTEENTH REGIMENT.                 393
meeting was held in the Chapel on Tuesday night, the 3d of May,
after which the canvass covering was taken down and packed for
removal.  Out of one hundred and thirty in the regiment who
professed to have found peace in the Saviour of men, many never
again met at a religious meeting on earth, and before the month
ended two-thirds of them had died or been disabled on the battlefield.
On May 4th, the regiment broke camp at daylight, and marching
by way of Brandy Station and Stevensburg, crossed the Rapidan
at Germania Ford by pontoon bridge. The 5th found it in the
Wilderness, and the sounds of battle where Warren had come into
collision with Ewell's Corps, soon brought the order hastening the
Sixth Corps to his support. The thickness of the woods, and encumbered state of the road, formed a great obstacle to a speedy advance
to the point of contest; but at length, being put on the doublequick, the men, with much confusion floundering through the
thicket, reached the battle-ground about one o'clock, p. m. Each
side was waiting for reinforcements, and during the afternoon little
was done beyond firing by artillery —which seemed ineffectualand straightening our lines and getting the regiment out of the confusion into which they had been thrown by the brushwood. The
Fifteenth was now thrown in advance upon a rise of ground, from
which our forces had withdrawn in the morning, and began to
throw up rifle pits. (The regiment was for a time detached from
the rest of the brigade, and for two days served under Colonel
Upton of the Second Brigade.) Towards night the firing was resumed, inflicting some casualties-Captain Van Derveer, Company
E, having his hand shattered and being wounded in the throat.
He was a valuable officer, brave and capable; disabled by these
wounds he was sent to Washington, and after resigning his commission received a Government appointment, and died of fever
soon after the war closed. Several men were also wounded, and
Leonard Decker, Company D, killed. The night was cold, and
marked by musketry firing, and at break of day the men stood to
arms anticipating a stubborn contest.  Just at sunrise, Captain
Ellis Hamilton was struck by a bullet from a rebel sharpshooter,
50




894            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
which passed through both thighs.  He was sent to Washington,
and after lingering some days, tenderly watched by loving friends,
he expired, expressing his firm faith and telling of that change of
heart he felt he had experienced while in camp at Brandy Station.
Though one of the most youthful officers in the regiment, he was
distinguished for bravery and efficiency, and universally beloved as
having gone into the service from the purest sense of duty. At
length, an hour after sunrise, the roar of artillery and musketry on
the right announced that the rebels had assailed. S.oon the combat
approached and swept by the regimental front and on to the left.
For a while it was vehement, but presently died down and the
morning was disturbed only by occasional discharges of artillery
and musketry firing along the skirmish line.  But a more prolonged
contest was being waged on the left, where Hancock had engaged
Hill and Longstreet.  Just at dark Ewell's troops, who fronted
the Sixth Corps, attacked the flank of the Third Division, which
fell back in confusion, the rebels carrying the breastworks, and
then pouring a fire upon the flank of the First Division, the Fourth
Brigade being driven from its position and flying in panic.  The
Tenth New Jersey in this disorder, and Colonel Ryerson, after
having rallied his men and made them lie down on a new line
which he determined to hold, as he rose upon one knee, received a
bullet in the forehead, from  which lie died a few days after in a
rebel hospital, deeply regretted. But though the line was broken on
their right, and the enemy penetrated to their rear, the Fifteenth
held their advanced and isolated position till midnight, when without loss they followed the rest of the army to the new line some
two miles to the rear. The situation was very hazardous, and many
believed the regiment captured; so close was its proximity to the
rebels that the men heard their conversation with ease.
It was two o'clock, a. m., May 7th, when the regiment came into
the new line.  It had stood its ground when others fled and panic
prevailed on either side; and now, determined still to hold its position, began entrenching at daylight.  By ten o'clock, a. m.,.the
works were very strong, and though the enemy felt the line in front
and drove in a part of the skirmish line, by which three men were




THE FIFTEENTH REGIMENT.                   395
wounded, and John Brogan, Company A, killed-no real advantage
was gained.  At dark the regiment marched by the Fredericksburg
road to Chancellorsville, and thence to the point where Grant was
now concentrating.
The morning of Sunday, May Sth, was intensely hot, and
exhausted by the fatigues of previous days and the march of the
past night, the men fell fainting by scores from the ranks.  Accordingly at ten o'clock, a. m., a halt was ordered. The Fifth Corps
were at this time in advance, and firing was heard at the point
where they struck the enemy.  About noon the Fifteenth reached
the field of action, about half a mile from  Spottsylvania Court
House, meeting many of the Fifth Corps going in squads to the
rear.  As the command came up the road at Alsops, General
Warren rode into the ranks demanding, "What brigade is this?
Where is the commanding officer?  I want to move this brigade
forward at once.  I must have this brigade."  Colonel Penrose,
now the ranking officer, commanded the brigade, and soon after,
ordered by General WVarren, moved to a designated position.
and held the ground firmly under the artillery fire of the enemy.
But the real object of our advance in that direction was not
attained. General WVarren had failed to reach Spottsylvania Court
House in time to hold the roads which concentrated there-which
was his real object in the advance-the possession of this point
being considered of the greatest importance to a successful issue of
this part of the campaign.  At eight or nine o'clock on the
morning of  ay, a small body of Union cavalry were in
possession of the Court House, but at ten o'clock, a. m., when the
head of the Fifth Corps emerged from the woods and crossed the
open space near Alsops, they were greeted with a furious discharge
of musketry from  the troops of Longstreet, whose column had
entered Spottsylvania Court House, driven out the cavalry and
now came pouring into the place regiment after regiment.  It was
a critical moment when the Fifth Corps received the first discharge
from rebel infantry.  As yet only the head of Longstreet's force
had reached the Court House, though every moment swelled the
number of his forces,  The veterans of the Fifth, surprised at the




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THE FIFTEENTH REGIMENT.                        397
sudden onset, were thrown into confusion, and the advance was
checked  until a stronger and more orderly  assault might be
delivered.  This was attempted, a charge was made, and some
advantage gained; but the delay of half an hour lost us Spottsylvania Court House, and was followed by the bloodiest contests in
which the Army of the Potomac ever engaged.
During the following day, the 8th, the Fifteenth was not engaged,
but at six o'clock in the evening, the order came for the brigade to
advance-the Fifteenth to charge the works on the right flank and
the other regiments on the front.  The Fifteenth at once moved
gallantly forward, charging at double-quick, but without firing a gun
— the enemy also reserving his fire. Soon, the assailants, reaching a
marsh, were exposed to an enfilading fire, which swept their ranks in
three directions, but though whole companies seemed to melt away,
the gallant Jerseymnen plunged' straight forward through the soft,
spongy marsh, forced their way through the fallen timber and over
every obstacle until they mounted the crest and standing on the
parapets fired on the rebels in their own ditches.  So pitiless was
the assailing fire that the enemy speedily gave way, and had the
Fifteenth  been  properly supported; or in greater numbers, the
victory must have been complete.  But now, back in the woods, a
drum beat the assembly, and perceiving the weakness of the attacking force, the rebels rallied from  all sides to beat back the meagre
remnant of the brave little regiment.   Thus overwhelmed, the
Fifteenth slowly fell back, having lost in all one hundred and one
men; but it had performed one of the most gallant achievements
of the campaign, and in that thought the survivors found some
compensation for their sufferings, as, exhausted and worn, they
withdrew from the scene of combat.' The Tenth Regiment, which
I Chaplain Haines says of the scenes after this engagement:
" With Doctor Hall, our brave and good Surgeon, I found a place in the rear-a little
hollow with green grass and a spring of water-where we made hasty preparations for
receiving the coming wounded. Those that could walk soon began to find their way
in of themselves, and some few were helped in by their comrades as soon as the charge
was over and a portion withdrawn. It was a terrible thing to lay some of our best
and truest men in a long row on the blankets, waiting their turn for the Surgeon's
care. Some camcewith body wounds, and arms shattered, and hands dangling. With
the hospital attendants, I began ripping the clothes and dressing the wounds of the
slightly wounded, while Doctor Hall attended the more dangerous cases. At ten




398              NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
was sent in about the same time as the Fifteenth, participating
in the charge on  the front, scattered  very  soon  after becoming
engaged-Lieutenant-Colonel Tay, however, leading forward three
or four companies until they came up  to  the works, when he,
Captain Snowden and several other officers and a large number of
men, after maintaining a short, unequal contest, were forced to
surrender.   The  remainder, escaping, came out of the  contest
greatly disordered, without an officer of experience to command
them, and were  consequently placed under charge of LieutenantColonel Campbell, of the Fifteenth.
At noon of the 9th, the Fifteenth again moved, marching to the
right, but did not become actively engaged, though three companies
were stationed on the skirmish line, and the whole command was
much exposed.8  On the 10th, the regimental position was no less exo'clock, with the drum corps, I sought the regiment to take of  n   f any  of  r wounded
we could find. On my way, met some men carrying Orderly Sergeant Martin Van
Gilder, of Hamburg, mortally wounded, in a blanket. With his hand all blood he
seized mine, saying,' Chaplain, I am going. Tell my wife I am happy.' Then came
my loved friend, young Sandford Simmons, of Lafayette, with many others. The
enemy held the ground where the charge was made, and I was not permitted to advance
far beyond the picket-line. Once, with James D. Baylor, I crawled out so far that we
could hear the conversation of the rebels, and the order,'fall in,' as they relieved their
skirmishers. I made several trips between the regiment and field hospital. At two
o'clock, a. m., I laid down amid a great throng of poor, bleeding sufferers, whose moans
and cries for water kept me awake. At four o'clock, got up and had coffee made, and
going round among the wounded found a Pennsylvanian who had lain at my feet dead.
A few feet further off lay Sergeant Scudder, of Somerville, dead. Settiug out for
the skirmish line, I found the regiment, and in the half hour of quiet made out a list
of losses from the Fifteenth Regiment, one hundred and one in all.  Among the
missing was Captain Lewis Van Blarcom, and among the dead, Seargeant Lucien A.
Voorhees, Company A."
s8  At ten o'clock, a. m., of the 9th, a sharpshooter from the rebels was posted in a
tree on the right. He seemed to fire with unerring accuracy and is said to have destroyed twenty lives.  As the regiment was being relieved, he caught sight of our
colors, and as Sergeant Samuel Rabadon rose, a ball struck him in the breast. He was
taken to the hospital and expired in a few moments. General Sedgwick came forward
a little later and was struck by a bullet in the face, probably from the same sharp -
shooter, and died in half an hour.
"At noon, (9th,) the regiment moved off to the right. Doctor Hall went with the
hospital attendants, while I retained five drummers to bury Sergeants Schenck and
Rabadon. We found a spade, dug a grave where the hospital had been, and laid them
side by side in the rough hole. A number of men from several regiments were filling
their canteens at the spring. I asked them if they could come for.a few moments
around a soldiers' grave. Most of them came and uncovered their heads. I repeated
some passages of Scripture and offered a short prayer. Drum-Sergeant Kline filled up
the grave, nailing to two posts which he planted a piece of cracker box, on which I
cut the names of the dead. While he was doing this, with my other men I gathered




THE FIFTEENXTi  ItEGiMEXT.                        899
posed, but the command bravely held its own against the onsets of
the enemy, losing in all twenty men.9 During the 11th, both armies
manoeuvered for position without any general engagement, but on
the 12th hostilities were renewed with unsparing violence.  The
First Brigade, being moved at half-past three o'clock, a. m., to the
front on the left of the corps, was sent forward to assail some of
the same works it had assaulted on the 10th-other brigades participating in the movements, and sharing in its perils.  Few charges
of this memorable campaign were more difficult, or more grandly
executed than that made at this time by the Jersey Brigade. They
had not only to force their way through a pine thicket, and then
the muskets and accoutrements left by the wounded. Laying the muskets with the
muzzle on a stump, one heavy stamp of the foot bent the barrel, broke the stock and
made the piece useless. The accoutrements we heaped together and threw on the fire,
and with hasty steps sought the regiment. The enemy's batteries opened at two
o'clock, p. in., and with Doctor Hall and the hospital attendants I went to arrange a
hospital. Colonel Penrose rode by and informed me the rebels were nearly around us,
and, indeed, it seemed by the shots fired they were on every side. Summoning our
attendants, we moved up a ravine on the right nearer the front, but protected by a roll
of ground from  musketry fire in our rear. Five minutes after, Lieutenant-Colonel
Campbell rode back with three companies from the Fifteenth and stationed a skirmish
line. Fearful work was all around us. The din and horrors of war exceeded descrip.
tion. At nine o'clock, p. m., several of our wounded were brought in. We dressed
their wounds, and loading two ambulances with them, sent them back on the Fredericksburg road. A message came to me from Colonel Penrose, and finding his headquarters, he told me it was impossible to reach Colonel Campbell and the rest of the
regiment that night, but in the early morning he would give me an orderly and wished
me to find them. Near midnight, laid down. Picket firing all night." —Chctaplni
lHaincs' Notes.
i "Tuesday, May 10th, sixth day of campaign. Rose at daylight. The orderly came,
and a mile to the left we found Colonel Campbell and half the regiment, being the
extreme line in that direction. The enemy's fire was very annoying, and the position,
as the day advanced, was one of great danger. In time, the Second Division, Second
Corps, under General Mott, came up on our left, but waited a whole hour before they
relieved our men. An anxious period to me, when I was aware that at every discharge
our own men were being struck by the bullets of the foe. At last the Third Regiment,
Excelsior Brigade, a New York Regiment, were ordered to relieve them. The rebels
saw their advance, and slackened fire till they came to our line and our men rose to go
out. Then they poured a volley into them, and at once they broke and ran. The men
of the Fifteenth received the onset of the enemy, who came out of their trenches to
pursue, drove them back and came out in order. But it cost us twenty men. One
wounded man crawled out (Corporal Van Cleef, Company E,) whom I found, and with
our only stretcher and some of the men I brought off. One bullet had passed through
his thigh, and one entering at the shoulder, had come out at his side near the waist.
These made five bullet wounds that he had received since he came into service. The
three companies followed to a little hollow, where there was water, and we remained
there three hours. I dressed as well as I could the wounds of Van Cleef. and sent him
to the rear, to be put in an ambulance. He informed me that William C. E. Gulick,
Company E, my attached friend, and one of the bravest and truest that ever carried a




40,               NEEW  JERSEY  AND THE  REBELLION.
forming, dash across an open space, but to do so in the face of a
deadly-concentrated fire which no ordinary line could resist. But
the Jerseymen were equal to the occasion.  Bidding his men reserve
their fire until they saw the foe and  knew  that every shot would
tell, Colonel Penrose steadily pushed forward the brave command.
A thousand men soon lay lifeless, or wounded and bleeding, upon
the ground, but still the line swept on. The Fifteenth, dashing
through the abattis before the rebel works, swept over a portion
of the breastworks, which for a time they stoutly held, driving out
the rebels, or bayonetting those who tenaciously clung to the position.  Some threw  down their muskets and lifted  their hands in
musket, was shot and he believed dead. I resolved to bring him off, if possible, dead
or alive, and so waited for three hours, hoping the enemy would retire and we might
reach him. But waiting did not afford the opportunity, and though six men volunteered at all hazards to bring Gulick off, I gave up every hope when the rebels advanced
a skirmish line and threw up rails to begin a breastwork.
"While we waited, the men found the body of John W. Smith, who was shot last
night. I sent six men, who brought the body, and we dug a shallow grave with sharpened sticks, the men scooping out the earth with their hands and dinner-plates. I
summoned the men of the three companies on the ground, and we laid the body in, all
standing with uncovered heads, while two offered prayer amid the loud din and roar of
a sudden charge of the foe on our front. Before we could fill the shallow grave an
orderly dashed over the hill bringing the order for the men to hurry up and hold the
crest of the hill. Knowing I was of little use there, after they got in position, with
bullets flying thick through the pines over my head, I rode back to find the quarters
of last night, get something to eat and prepare for the work of the hospital for
to-night. I succeeded in getting a feed of oats for my horse-the first he had for two
days. At four o'clock, p. m., a corporal and six men came in bringing a wounded
man on an old door. To my joy it was Gulick. He had succeeded in crawling amid
the confusion of the several charges to a place where our men found him. But poor
fellow, he had a mortal wound, as I think, through the bowels. I told him I thought
he must die, but with a clearvoice he said:'Chaplain I am not afraid to die. Ifeel my
peace is made with God.' While Doctor Hall dressed his wound, I found an ambulance,
and putting Gulick aboard, started it for the corps hospital. One warm grasp of the
hand, as I stood on the ambulance step, and I and my friend had parted to meet, doubtless, no more in this world. He behaved gallantly and was nearer the rebelworks than
almost any man who took part in that charge.
"Ten o'clock, p. m. All is quiet now, though the setting sun witnessed the fiercest
fighting we have experienced yet. The carnage has been terrible on both sides. Ambulances came up in numbers to take off the wounded. As far as I can judge, the
advantages are favorable to our side, at least so far as this particular portion of the
line is concerned. Our troops charged again and again, taking a part of the enemy's
works and capturing one thousand prisoners, who are resting a few yards from us.
"May 11th. I learn that our brigade, in connection with Colonel Upton's, charged
last night at dark, and obtained possession of a portion of the rebel works, which
they held three hours. They were left unsupported, and the desirable position after
all was yielded. Several of the Fifteenth are missing. The Third New Jersey lost
nearly one hundred men, though some are coming in constantly.  The enemy has
made his battery on our front very formidable."-D-iary of Chaplaign lai-nes.




THE FIFTEENTHT REGIMENT.                 401
token of surrender and lay crouching in the ditch, only, however,
to resume their weapons when their captors were more hardly
pressed.  Lieutenant Justice, of whom Colonel Campbell said, "He
was to-day as brave as a lion," as he rose on the breastwork, waving
his sword and shouting to his company, was shot by one of these
skulking rebels, who was in turn run through with the bayonet by
a man of Company A.  Captain Walker was shot through the head
at the first exposure to the enemy's fire. Captain Shimer was
killed.  Lieutenant Vanvoy was wounded, and while moving to
the rear, was again struck and expired in a few moments. Captain
Van Blarcom received several terrible wounds, but survived with
the loss of a leg. Lieutenant Fowler was wounded and captured,
and after a painful experience of the hardships and cruelties of
Southern prisons, made his escape, and by a romantic series of adventures and deliverances in the mountains and swamps, at last
reached the Union lines in Tennessee.
The tenure of the salient was brief. The line to the right and
left was broken, and an enfilading fire from a. long distance on the
right, swept through the thin ranks.  The enemy had an inner
line of breastworks from which he poured a deadly fire. It was
impossible to hold the captured bank so long as it was swept by
the works yet untaken.' Accordingly, the regiment fell back, and
when Colonel Campbell gathered his shattered  battalion, only
seventy-five were found.
On the left of the ground where the regiment charged, the assault
was renewed again and again through the day by other troops, and
the musketry fire was prolonged all night. So fierce was the incessant shower of bullets that the bodies of the dead were riddled,
and great trees cut away a few feet from the ground. Within the
salient the dead were literally piled in heaps, and the combatants
fought over a mound of their dead comrades. Few points, if any,
on the broad theater of the war witnessed greater carnage than
this. Forty bodies, or near one-fifth of the whole regiment, lay on
the breastwork, in the ditch or the narrow, opeli space in front.
Numbers had crawled away to expire in the woods, and others were
carried to the hospital, there to have their sufferings prolonged for
51




402               N\EW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
a few days more, and then expire. No experience during the whole
time the Fifteenth was in the service was more destructive than the
half hour from ten o'clock to half-past ten, of the morning of May
12th."-'
On Saturday, the 14th, the brigade  moved to the left of the
army near the Anderson House, and came upon the enemy about
noon.  The Second and Tenth Regiments were thrown forward as
skirmishers across a stream, where they were surprised and overcome before they could be reinforced. Subsequently, however, the
rest of the brigade was thrown forward and the position retaken.
From  this time until the 24th, the regiment was moved backward
and forward, from  the center to the left of the army-occasionally
skirmishing with the enemy and losing a few men.  Never did the
command so realize the horrors of war. Blood and death were on
every side. The regiment had broken camp on the 4th with fifteen
officers and four hundred and twenty-nine muskets, and now was
reduced to six  officers and one hundred and  thirty-six muskets.
From  May 21st to June 1st it was kept most of the time in motion,
with an occasional loss on the skirmish line, being present at the
battle of North Anna  and  other places of conflict.  On the 1st
it reached Cold Harbor about noon. At three o'clock, p. m., the
1o " Apart from the rest, behind a log to which he had crawled, lay the body of ColorSergeant John L. Young. His hands were clasped and uplifted, as though he had
expired in the act of prayer. A handsome boy of eighteen years, he lay there in all
the beauty of his young manhood, with Testament in his bosom and his blue eyes
opened towards heaven. A few weeks before, he had made a profession of religion,
and had given pleasing evidence of being a child of God. Close by him lay James D.
Baylor, a young disciple of Christ, brave in life, and still manly and noble in death.
Shot through the heart, the warm blood that flowed from his bosom besmeared the
Testament and hymn book which he carried wherever he went. There, too, lay George
D. Foulds, an orphan boy, whose loving spirit found the Saviour he had served from
amid that scene of conflict and death. Orderly-Sergeant Paul Kuhl lay close under
the rebel works. He had been shot through the thigh, and wound his handkerchief
around the limb and twisted it with his ramrod to stop the bleeding. It would seem
as though his giving signs of life had made him the mark for rebel bullets, with which
his body was riddled. He had early in his military life given his heart to the Saviour,
and was loved and respected for his piety by all who knew him.  The brave, the
generous and the good lay slaughtered around, the mlost precious gifts which our
State has ever given to the sacred cause of the country. Some of the dead have been
removed, but the most sleep there in ground which their: own blood has consecrated
and their deeds made memorable. The spot is now as quiet as any graveyard, and
nature has thrown her pall of richest green over the soil that holds tlleir bones."-'Dioary of' Chcapla ti I- iites.




THE FIFTEENTH REGIMENT.                  403
Sixth Corps charged, and twenty-five of the Fifteenth were killed
and wounded-Sergeant-Major A. V. Wyckoff being among the
former.  In the charge, the Fifteenth and Tenth Regiments reached
a position on a hillock which they held when the line was broken
on either side of them, and which they began to entrench upon at
sundown.  On this little hillock they remained for the greater
part of the next ten days, and from  it many never came alive.
The firing from the enemy was almost constant, and whenever a
man raised his head above the surface he was almost certain to be
struck.  The'men, in fact, were obliged to burrow in the ground,
and communication was kept up with the rear through a long
ditch dug to hide those passing from sight of the enemy.  The
dust, the great heat, the confined space and the dead bodies buried
just under the surface, soon rendered the place most offensive. Day
after day passed, line after line of works were constructed, the
number of dead and wounded increased, but still the regiment was
not taken from  this horrible place, till, on the night of the 12th,
it marched for the James River.
On the 19th it reached the outer-defences of Petersburg, where
it remained, with the exception of a march to Ream's Station, until
the night of July 9th, when it proceeded to the James River and
took steamer for Washington, going thence to the Shenandoah
Valley. Nothing of particular importance occurred until August
15th, when it was assaulted at Strasburg, on the Shenandoah, and
lost nine men. On the 17th, it skirmished all day through Newtown
and Winchester, the brigade forming the rear-guard of the army.
A; six o'clock, p. m., one mile and a half south of Winchester, the
enemy assaulted with vigor, the brigade of nine hundred men and
one regiment of cavalry, the Third New Jersey, sustaining the
shock of an overwhelming force, estimated at five thousand. In
this action, the Fifteenth lost sixty-one men in killed and missing.
On the 21st, the enemy assaulted our lines at Charlestown, whither
our troops had retired, and a number of men were lost. At midnight, the Fifteenth (and other regiments) fell back to a position
near Bolivar Heights, where it was stationed for several days.
On the morning of the 19th of September, the regiment broke




404           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
camp before day, and after marching eight miles, halted at eleven
o'clock within two miles of Winchester, in a ravine covered by the
fire of the enemy. About noon the brigade, under Colonel Campbell, moved out and the action became general. Soon the Third
Division of the Sixth Corps was thrown into confusion, and at this
moment the greatest disasters of the day occurred. General David
A. Russell, commanding the First Division, was killed while rallying the broken line. The Fifteenth suffered severely, losing nearly
fifty in killed and wounded.  Orderly-Sergeant Charles H. Mulligan, of Chester, was shot through the head. He had been absent
wounded, and returned just a week previous.  Only the night
before his voice had been heard in the Sunday evening prayermeeting. His readiness for every duty, his gentle manners, his
cheerful face had endeared him to all who knew him, and though
used to scenes of slaughter, his comrades wept as they laid him in
the hastily-prepared grave.  In the general advance, later in the
day, the Fifteenth acquitted itself bravely, and in the pursuit of
the flying enemy, shared with the brigade the elation which the
victory everywhere occasioned.  On the 21st, the regiment had a
skirmish with the enemy, in which two men were killed and fifteen
wounded.  On the 22d, Sheridan again delivering battle at Fisher's
Hill, whither Early had retreated, the brigade (with other troops)
moved to the right and at four o'clock, p. m., assaulted and captured the rebel works, the Fifteenth.(under Captain Cornish) displaying great gallantry. The enemy again retreating, our forces
pushed forward in pursuit as far as Staunton, whence, having laid
waste the country, they retired across Cedar Creek, north of Strasburg, Sheridan going to Washington and leaving General Wright
in command of the army.
The night of October 18th was intensely cold, and in consequence
many men of the Fifteenth, as well as of other regiments, were astir
at an earlier hour than usual on the morning of the 19th. The night
previous there had been some firing on the right, but now it came
from the opposite direction. At five o'clock, a. m., picket firing was
heard far away to the left, but attracted no great attention at the
point occupied by the First Brigade. Presently an order came




THE FIFTEENTH REGIMENT.                  405
down from Brigade Headquarters for the men to get breakfast;
this, however, was soon followed by the command to stand to arms.
And now the sounds of approaching conflict showed that the enemy
was advancing in force. The order came,  move out at once."
Colonel Campbell at once led out the regiment, bullets meanwhile
flying into the very camp, and the confusion on all sides increasing.
With difficulty the tents were packed and the baggage got off in
the wagons. The Eighth Corps, as it now appeared, had been surprised and the rebels were thronging their camps, bayonetting the
men before they were awake. The Nineteenth Corps soon gave
way before the assault on their flank, and the Sixth was called to
bear the burden of the terrible onset. The volleys of musketry
were terrific, and to ad4 to the perils of the situation, our artillery,
as soon as captured, was turned upon our forming ranks.  The
Fifteenth, with the First Brigade, after the first shock, bravely
maintained its reputation for steadiness and courage. Major Lambert Boeran was killed, and many of the best men of the regiment fell. The color-guard were all killed with three exceptions.
Peter Gunderman, Color-Sergeant, who bore the National Colors,
was struck by a fragment of shell which first broke the staff and
then striking him in the side, bore him to the ground. Corporal
John Mowder fell dead with the State Colors, and the enemy seized
them as they came up. This was the only flag the Fifteenth ever
lost; but it was retaken that pight and returned next day-General
Torbert and Custer visiting the regiment to restore it, and saying
in short speeches, not only that the flag was not lost by any fault of
its own, but that the Fifteenth had ever done its duty. During the
action, Colonel Campbell was struck by a bullet which shattered
his left arm, but he kept command until the greatest danger was
over, when, weak from the loss of blood, he was forced to mount
an orderly's horse and leave the field. The word flew along the
line, " Colonel Campbell is wounded," and even in the excitement of
the hour the men turned from the observation of the enemy to
follow him with their eyes. As he rode away he lifted his uninjured hand and motioned to them, which they interpreted to mean,
"hold on."




406           NEWV JERSEY ANI) THE REBELLION.
After falling back a mile and a half, at eight o'clock the advance
of the enemy had been checked by the Sixth Corps, which held
some ridges of ground from which it was difficult to dislodge it.
But the Eighth and Nineteenth Corps were disorganized masses.
The Eighth had lost all its artillery, most of its camp property and
wagon train. The Nineteenth lost heavily, but not all. Thirty-one
pieces of artillery were gone, being as many, within two, as had
been captured in the Valley during the operations herein recorded.
But the end was not yet. At ten o'clock, General Sheridan came
in sight, a little man on a large black horse, riding at full gallop
ahead of his staff.  The road for several miles was filled with
stragglers from the broken corps, but when Sheridan came in view,
they waved their hats, (the men of the Sixth wore caps, and the
others hats,) and a prolonged shout arose along the road. The
great mass of men hurrying to the rear, turned about and moved
the other way as rapidly as they had been flying before. But their
enthusiasm was nothing compared with what it was when the brave
commander dashed in front of our lines, waving his hat and shout
ing, " We shall be in our old camps to-night."  Then what peals
of cheering rolled along the ranks!
Now all became quiet except a slow cannonading. Early's men
were gathering their plunder and drinking whiskey from  the
captured trains till four o'clock, p. m., when the army having
regained its composure, a general advance was made, resulting in
the utter discomfiture of the rebels, who were driven at all points,
until they had crossed the creek, crowding in haste to get away,
and our infantry re-occupied their old camps.  Then, finally,
Custer, with his cavalry, rushed upon them in the streets and the
narrow defile south of Strasburg and gave them a more complete
overthrow than was ever experienced in the Valley. In this grand
assault, we captured nearly two thousand prisoners and forty-five
pieces of cannon-fourteen more than we had lost. Some of these
were abandoned in the creek, or became immovably wedged in
the streets of the town.
At nine o'clock at night the body of Major Boeman was brought
in, and was shortly after sent to Flemington for burial. He was




THE FIFTEENTH REGIMEN-T.                407
at the time of his death in command of the Tenth New Jersey
Volunteers.  A deep sorrow at his loss filled the hearts of all, the
men grieving as for a personal friend. His influence as a Christian
had been very happy upon the command, and did not cease with
his death. The brigade had suffered heavily, and not a field officer
was left. In the Fifteenth there were hardly any non-commissioned
officers, and the number of those who belonged to the regiment at
the time of its formation was dwindled to a mere handful. Most
of the dead were stripped of their clothing, and the wounded robbed
of shoes and outer garments. In general the wounded were treated
with much inhumanity, though some instances are known where
they received kindly treatment.
This battle closed the fighting of the year in the Valley.  On
the 1st of December, the Sixth Corps rejoined the Army of the
Potomac, and the Fifteenth settled down before Petersburg for the
winter. It was never again heavily engaged. In the final assault
upon the enemy's works, in April, 1865, it carried itself with conspicuous courage, but suffered only trifling loss. Upon Lee's surrender, it was sent to Danville, whence, late in May, it proceeded
to Washington, and subsequently to Trenton, where it was finally.disbanded.  In all the qualities of courage, endurance and devotion
to duty, this was among the foremost of New Jersey regiments;
to have fought in its ranks on the ghastly fields where it won
celebrity, may well be counted an honor at once lustrous and
imperishable.




CHAPTER XIV.
THE  SIXTEENTH   REGIMENT-(First Cavalry).
ON the 4th of August, 1861, the President of the United States
issued an order authorizing Honorable William Halsted, of Trenton, to raise a regiment of volunteer cavalry from the State of New
Jersey. The order limited the time for recruiting to ten days, but
there was afterwards an  extension of ten days additional.  Mr.
Halsted had been for many years a prominent member of the bar
of the State, and, having attained considerable political eminence,
had been at one time a member of Congress, but now, approaching
his seventieth year, scarcely possessed the activity and physical
strength requisite for the cavalry service. Governor Olden, for
this and other reasons, declined to recognize the regiment as part
of the State contingent of volunteers, and it was consequently
recruited under wholly independent auspices. But whatever judgment may be pronounced upon the capacity of the Colonel to command, he certainly proved that he possessed the ability to raise the
regiment. On the 24th of August, the first four companies, under
command of Major M. H. Beaumont, arrived in Washington, and
only a week after six other companies were brought in by Colonel
Halsted himself-the whole going into camp on Meridian Hill.'
1 The original roster of the regiment was as follows:
Colonel, William Halsted; Lieutenant-Colonel, J. H. Alexander; First Major, Myron
H. Beaumont; Second Major, Henry 0. Halsted; Surgeon, William W. L. Phillips;
Assistant-Surgeon, Ferdinand V. L. Dayton; Acting Adjutant, W. E. Morford;
Chaplain, Henry R. Pyne; Quartermaster, Benjamin B. Halsted.  Company ACaptain, John H. Shelmire; First Lieutenant, Jacob R. Sackett; Second Lieutenant,
James H. Hart. Comrpany B-Captain, Richard C. Lewis; First Lieutenant, William
Frampton; Second Lieutenant, James Tompkinson. Company C-Captain, Ivins Di
Jones; First Lieutenant, John S. Tash; Second Lieutenant, William W. Gray. Company D-Captain, Robert N. Boyd; First Lieutenant, John Worsley; Second Lieutenant, Henry W. Sawyer.  Conmpany E-Captain, John W. Kester; First Lieu



'THE SIXTEENTiH REiGIMET — (FIRST CAVALRY).              409
From  the first, this camp was a scene of tumult and disorder.
Drills were scarcely thought of; the most ordinary precautions of
sanitary police were neglected; and, withal, there was no authoritative announcement of duties, no promptly enforced penalty for
disobedience. Officers who sought for some advantage or indulgence, applied to the Colonel with no consideration whether the
favor ought properly to be asked by a subordinate or granted by a
commander.  If in his endeavors to administer his government
faithfully, the Colonel refused their petition, they persisted even to
angry remonstrance; finally overpowering his objections at the cost
of all respect for authority.  Two Lieutenant-Colonels were contending for the position to which both had been appointed, and the
officers were divided into cliques, supporting one or the other.
When officers who knew  something of their duty tried to do it,
their men drew  invidious comparisons between them  and other
easy-going company commanders; and without any energetic superior authority to support them, the officers found themselves forced
to succumb to the tide of popular opinion. For the regimental
commander, in the midst of the throng of duties, all strange and
peculiar in their character, found himself unable to concentrate his
attention upon any one.  Called to labor constantly beyond his
strength, harassed by responsibilities for which he was unprepared by military experience, and to bear which he was untrained
in military habits, he found the confusion around him  defying all
his efforts and regulations, and could only by slow degrees begin
to grapple with the difficulties of his situation.  Still, in one way
or another, things dragged  along.   The regiment passed  from
camp to camp; and at length crossing the river was placed in a
tenant, Patton J. Yorke; Second Lieutenant, Francis B. Allibone.  Company  --
Captain, John H. Lucas; First Lieutenant, Moses W. Malsbury; Second Lieutenant, Aaron S. Robbins. Company G-Captain, John H. Smith; First Lieutenant,
George W. Wardell; Second Lieutenant, Peter A. Bertholf.  Company II —Captain,
H. C. Perley; First Lieutenant, William T. Inman; Second Lieutenant, Myer Asch.
Company I-Captain, Benjamin W. Jones; First Lieutenant, James Hunt; Second
Lieutenant, Edward Field.  Company  — Captain, Virgil Broderick; First Lieutenant, Thomas R. Haines; Second Lieutenant, John Fowler. Company L-Captain,
William W. Taylor; First Lieutenant, Hugh H. Janeway; Second Lieutenant, Peter
H. Langstaff. Company Jll-Captain, John P. Fowler; First Lieutenant, Horace tW.
Bristol; Second Lieutenant, Samuel Warbag.
52




410            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
brigade. Here the difficulty as to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy was
terminated, and Joseph Karge, formerly an officer in the Prussian
service, though for many years a naturalized citizen of the United
States, was permanently established in that rank. When this result
was accomplished, the Colonel, weary with the labor which had
been imposed upon him, and becoming ill from the effect of camp
life, took a sick-leave and retired for a time to Washington.
For an officer who had been trained to regard a despotic discipline as the only principle of military authority, and to force the
body rather than to inform the intelligence as the only possible
system of drill, the command of twelve hundred men who had
always previously had their own way, and who had been used to
learn with the mind before acquiring the habits of physical skill,
was a burden of unanticipated difficulty.  He could not understand
the spirit which animated the men, and he could recognize even
less easily the sentiments which made many of his officers sometimes sympathize with the soldiers rather than with himself. Men
who had not learned to obey, who of late had been accustomed to
an almost impunity of insubordination, might, perhaps, have been
led to obedience by a calm, firm spirit of unwavering discipline,
but that discipline must have been unaccompanied by blows or
words as punishments which would arouse their anger from a sense
that they were not justly proportioned to the offence.  When
authority and unreasoning severity were associated together, the
spirit which rebelled against the latter confounded with it the discipline with which it was combined; while the Lieutenant-Colonel
interpreted the reluctance to submit to these, as a spirit of mutiny
against his efforts to establish order. Thus the whole camp was a
scene of misunderstanding, threatening frequently to break out into
riot and rebellion, when, unfortunately, another element of discord
intervened to aggravate the whole.  As the Lieutenant-Colonel was
bending all his energies to the performance of his duty in perfecting the military character of the regiment, a result, the details of
whose accomplishment he clearly understood, he encountered a difficulty in procuring those supplies which were essential not only to
efficiency, but even to continued existence. The last raised company




THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).            411
had just reported to camp without uniforms, without blankets and
without tents to shelter them; and the number of horses inefficiently
supplied with forage, and the appliances for the preservation of
their health, strength and equipments was constantly increasing. As
-these things occurred within sight of the immense granaries and
overflowing storehouses of Washington, Lieutenant-Colonel Karge
promptly called the Regimental Quartermaster to account, without
obtaining any satisfactory explanation; and though that officer was
warned to perform this duty, the supplies were still unprovided.
The matter was reported to the brigade commander, who, finding
on investigation that the Quartermaster had been irregularly mustered in, had his name without further ceremony removed from
the rolls of the regiment; and his place having been supplied by
another officer, the needed rations, forage, arms and clothing were
without difficulty obtained. The Colonel who was in Washington,
felt that as he was the ranking officer of the regiment, he should
have been consulted before such a change had been effected; and he
naturally interpreted the removal of the Quartermaster as an infringement of his prerogative, and an attack upon himself; he, consequently, hurried back to camp in indignation and signalized his
resumption of command by an unseemly altercation with the
Lieutenant-Colonel.  Confusion now was worse confounded.  The
Colonel naturally took the part of the men in their complaints
against the late executive; and the reforms in, drill, discipline and
camp routine, at once fell into abeyance. At the same time the
officers of ability and zeal, though they might question the propriety of the Lieutenant-Colonel's manner, could not but perceive
that his course tended to the improvement of the regiment, while
the present state of things must result in its dissolution. They,
therefore, began to draw towards the side of Lieutenant-Colonel
Karge, and were on that account regarded as hostile by Colonel
Halsted.  Hence there were two prominent parties in the camp,
besides numerous petty sub-divisions, varying continually, according to the impulses of personal pique and the demand of individual interest; and this state of affairs by distracting attention
and zeal from the good of the regiment, left it still unprepared for




412            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
service. During the month of November the regiment was assigned
to the Division of General Heintzelman, and in the beginning of
December another change of command took place.  Owing to misconstruction of certain regulations, Colonel Halsted became involved in difficulty with the War Department, which resulted in
his arrest, and the command devolved in consequence upon the
Lieutenant-Colonel.  There was a sudden resumption of energy
and discipline.  Well seconded by the senior Major, who, though
young, was familiar with the routine of the cavalry service, Karge
set to work to make soldiers of the officers and men. As a first
step he sent the most inefficient officers and men before the Examining Board in Washington, thus starting the rest into activity.
Wherever there was any duty to be done, either he or the Major
was to be seen ready to pour forth vials of wrath upon the heads
of the delinquents.  Officers grumbled and soldiers swore, but
still the routine was inexorably carried on, and before long all
awoke to a consciousness that they had never been so comfortable
since their first enlistment; still they were unable to perceive that
this good came to them through the man whose abuse rankled in
their hearts, and hatred of the Lieutenant-Colonel continued with
but little diminution.
In the five weeks of this regime a soldierly spirit was implanted
in the men, which preserved its vitality through all the ensuing
trouble.  Colonel Halsted, by the middle of January, settled his
difficulty with the War Department, and was restored to the command of his regiment, which was thereupon removed from General
Heintzelman's jurisdiction.  This transfer occurring in the midst
of a dismal storm, was undertaken without due preparation; and
for two nights the men and horses bivouacked in the streets of
Washington exposed to the inclemency of the weather. A  new
camp was then laid out near the road leading out of Seventh street
towards Rockville, and in a contracted space the troops were
crowded into quarters.  Knee-deep in the mud, with no provision
for their comfort, no duty to employ them except the harassing
work of furnishing a double camp-guard, the men began to sicken
and desert by scores. Rumors began to float around that in the




THE SIXTEENTH  REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).                      413
proposed reduction of the cavalry the regiment was to be disbanded,
and the men began to calculate that it was better to hurry home at
once than to linger in discomfort for no purpose.  The LieutenantColonel and Major were in arrest.' Many of the best officers were
in disgrace, and many of the poor ones gave themselves up to
intoxication.  The Colonel's time was engrossed by  pursuing the
cases of his officers before the Examining Board; and no one
seemed to have a hope or a care for the well-being of the regiment.
So the month of February came in and wore half away.  Suddenly
other rumors were whispered  through the camp.  The regiment
had been recognized  by the State, and the soldiers' families were
to receive State pay.  Colonel Halsted had  been mustered out,
and Percy Wyndham, an Englishman by descent, Colonel in the
Sardinian service, a soldier of Garibaldi. and chevalier of the
Military Order of Savoy, had been commissioned Colonel by the
Governor. The regiment was safe and its prospects brilliant. On
the heels of the rumor came its confirmation.  Colonel Ialsted one
morning left the camp and never returned.   That evening, an
officer, young, dashing, handsome, every inch a soldier, quietly
walked in and introduced himself as Colonel.2  The regiment was
transferred to better ground and  the mud was dried up by clear,
2 Colonel Wyndham's order, upon assuming command, was as follows:
" HEADQUARTERS FIRST NEW JERSEY CAVALRY, f
February 9, 1862.
[" Regimental Order, N1ro. 1.]
"I, Sir Percy Wyndham, Colonel-Brigadier of the Italian Army, having been recommended by Major-General McClellan, and duly commissioned as Colonel of the First
Regiment of New Jersey Cavalry, by the Governor of the State of New Jersey, do
hereby assume command of this regiment, which from this day is known and recognized by the Governor of the State of New Jersey as the First Regiment of New
Jersey Cavalry. The monthly allowance made by the State to the families of her volunteers, will be hereafter paid to the relatives of the patriotic sons of New Jersey who
are in the ranks of this regiment. The regiment is now well armed and splendidly
mounted, and all that is needed to put it in the most efficient state is strict obedience
to orders, and thorough military discipline; and the Colonel commanding desires the
assistance of all officers and men to attain this end-the well-being of the regiment
being the first.                         "SIR P. WYNDHAM,
"Colonel Commanding."
Colonel Sir Percy Wyndham was born September 22, 1833, in the "Downs," on
board the ship "Arab."  He was a son of Captain Charles Wyndham, Fifth Light
Cavalry, of the English army. At the age of fifteen, he entered as a volunteer in the
" Students' Corps " at Paris, on the 28th day of February, 1848, and took part in the
campaign of the French Revolution in 1848. On the 11th of July, in the same year, he




414               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
frosty weather. Everybody was released from arrest, and the spirit
of the  regiment brightened with the sky.   "Halsted's Horse"
became  the First New Jersey Cavalry; and with the change of
name, there came a change of character.
II-IN THE FIELD.
During the winter and early spring, the regiment was employed
in picket-duty and scouting along the left of the line. In this duty,
Lieutenant Hugh H. Janeway, having at one time ridden in advance  of his company, accompanied  by  a  single  orderly, was
wounded and left for dead by the enemy.  With great fortitude,
he rose and walked back to his command, and, though wounded in
seven or eight places, was fit for duty again within a month.  On
the 18th of April, 1862, the regiment was ordered to Fredericksburg to join General McDowell, arriving late on the following evening, after a march of great severity.   On the afternoon  of the
20th, it again started on a scout, proceeding towards the lower
extremity  of the Northern  Neck.   Bivouacking  that night at
King George  Court House, headquarters were on the following
morning transferred to the country-house of Edward Tayloe, near
which, according to tradition, the father of Pocahontas had often
was transferred to the navy, and promoted to be Ensign of Marines. On the 7th of
April, 1850, he resigned his position in the French Navy, and entered as a volunteer
in the English Artillery, on the 19th of June, 1851. He resigned this position on the
1st of October, 1852, and having passed a very creditable examination, entered the
Eighth Austrian Lancers, as Second Lieutenant, on the 3d of the following December.
He served two years as Second Lieutenant, and was promoted, on the 15th of April,
1854, to be First Lieutenant, and soon after that was promoted to be Squadron Commander. This position he resigned on the 1st of May, 1860, and on the 26th of May,
1860, he entered the Italian army as a Captain.  On the 20th of July following, he was
promoted to Major for conspicuous gallantry on the field of battle before Milogog,
and placed in command of his regiment. Again for conspicuous gallantry, he was
promoted to be Lieutenant-Colonel on the field of battle before Capua, on the 1st of
October, 1860, and was placed in command of a brigade by General Garibaldi in person.
He commanded this brigade with great credit up to the 8th of October, 1861, when,
filled with military ardor, and having no opportunity in Italy to further distinguish
himself, he obtained leave of absence for twelve months and came to the United States.
While in Europe, Colonel Sir Percy Wyndham took part in the following memorable
campaigns: Campaign of 1848 and 1849, French Revolution; campaign of the Russian
War, 1855-6; campaign of 1859, in the north of Italy; campaign in the south of Italy
and Sicily; the battle of Polemo, Nuloggo, Rager and Capua. He was kniighted by
King Victor Emanuel on the field and made Chevalier of the Military Order of Savoy,
and upon the establishment of peace received a medal commemorative of the Italian
war. —Reminiscences of First Yewo Jersey Cavalry, by Colonel Beaumont.




TIE SIXTEENTTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).          415
gathered his court-in honor of whom the place was called Powhatan Hill. From this point, a party of twenty men, under Lieutenant Walter R. Robbins, of Company G, was sent to the extremity of the Neck, accomplishing their difficult expedition without
loss, and returning with some two hundred negroes and a number
of horses. The slaves also came in from other points in great
numbers, and one of them bringing intelligence of a party of rebel
cavalry placed as a courier post some twelve miles distant on the
other side of the river, Captain Broderick, with a party of dismounted men, marched by night through rain and mud to the
designated point, completely surprising the party, killing one, mortally wounding another, and bringing five with their horses into
camp. On the following Saturday and Sunday, the regiment made
a reconnoissance across the country to the Potomac, and on the
28th, returned in good condition to camp near Falmouth, where it
was brigaded with the First Pennsylvania Cavalry, under command
of Brigadier-General George D. Bayard. Here the regiment remained,
engaged in picket-duty, until the 25th of May, when the brigade
moved across the river, and advanced on the plank road as far as
Salem Church —thence pushing on to the front of the army, within
hearing of the guns at the battle of Hanover Court House. Iere
the brigade suddenly received orders to march into the Valley of
Virginia to oppose Stonewall Jackson, and on the 28th, the command turned in that direction. With many of the horses unshod,
over stony roads and through heavy mire, often along hillsides,
giving up the road to others, the brigade pushed steadily on, passing
all other forces, and five days after reaching Strasburg, where
about one hundred and fifty rebel stragglers were captured. The
second battalion of the First Jersey, headed by Lieutenant Colonel
Karge, at once pushed forward in pursuit of the retreating enemy,
and coming up with his rear-guard, opened upon them, adding to
the number of our prisoners. At length, covered by a little stream
whose bridge had been hastily destroyed, a line of cavalry appeared
drawn up across the road.  At this moment Wyndham brought up
the rest of the regiment at a gallop, and without a pause the three
battalions in different columns were thrown across the stream




416            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
against the enemy. The fourth squadron, Companies D and. F,
covering their advance in a deep ravine, struck the road close to
the enemy, and in close column of fours wheeled into it to charge.
Just as they debouched upon it, a deep voice from the tall wheat
of the adjacent field, called out, "Ready, aim!" and a regiment
of rebel infantry rose up from their concealment.  "Down on your
saddles, every man," shouted Captain Boyd, as the order to fire
issued from lhe rebel commander. Each man stooped to his horse's
neck, and the whole volley whistled harmlessly over the heads of
our troops, riddling the fence behind.  Simultaneously with the fire
of the infantry, the rebel cavalry in the road opened right and left,
uncovering a section of artillery in position. " Right about wheel,
march! trot! gallop!" shouted Boyd, with an energy proportioned
to the emergency.  As the column dashed round the bend of the
road, a few scattering shots from the infantry were sent after it,
killing the blacksmith of Company D, while just as its rear got out
of range, the canister of the artillery tore along the causeway, too
late, however, to hurt them.  The rebel battery continuing its fire,
the first battalion (Beaumont's) took a wider sweep, and now came
towards the road in its rear, while a portion of the third, under
Haines and Janeway, strove to take it more in front. As our men,
advancing, set up their wild cheer, the supporting rebel cavalry
broke and retreated in disorder, leaving the guns without protection, and causing the artillerists and drivers to waver.  But by
each gun sat the officer of the piece with his pistol in hand, holding
the men sternly to their places. Deserted by their supports, our
men still pressing on, and their pistol shots whistling on, these gallant fellows forced their gunners to limber up as accurately as if on
drill; and then at a gallop the pieces were whirled along to the
rear.  Major Beaumont and Captains Bristol and Kester, with Sergeant Fowler, of Company E, and half a dozen men, dashed forward
in pursuit through the field by the side of the road, firing their
pistols as rapidly as the chambers would revolve, but the severe
marches of the past week, and the desperate speed of the morning's
chase, told now exhaustingly upon the horses. In spite of all their
efforts, they were left behind, though Fowler, one of the Corporals,




TIHE StXTEENTH1  REGtMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).                417
and a private named Gaskill found their animals so crazy with excitement as to be unmanageable. After the flying battery they raced
with headlong speed, plunging at last right into the ranks of the
rebels, who were obliged in self-defense to fire at those who were
thus riding them down.  Within a few yards of the rebel General
Ashby himself, Fowler was shot dead, the Corporal wounded and
Gaskill unhorsed and taken prisoner.
By this time the First Maine Battery had come up, and the fight
became one exclusively of artillery, the shells falling thickly among
our troopers-a few men being slightly wounded, and one or two
horses killed.3 Soon the night began to close in, and the infantry
of Fremont came, panting with their rapid march, upon the field of
battle.  But it was too late for further action, and pursuit was evidently impossible.  Ashby, without loss, drew off his men, and our
exhausted cavalrymen bivouacked on their first field of battle.
Promptly on the morrow  the march was renewed, the brigade
moving through the town of Woodstock, pressing upon the rear of
Jackson.  Fording the river at Edinburg and ascending the hills
above Mount Jackson, a long line of rebel wagons came into view
in the distance, with the army drawn up to protect their passage.
Between them and our forces rolled the swollen waters of a branch
of the Shenandoah, and this-the bridge having been fired-it was
found impossible to cross. Our guns, indeed, opening an angry
fire upon the enemy, compelled him to retire out of range, but he
did it with an air of triumph, which enhanced the mortification of
the pursuers, who at length baffled and disappointed, camped by
the river's side, watching its constantly-increasing volume and
soaked by the incessant rains.  Here, vainly endeavoring mean3 Chaplain Pyne, in his notes, says:
"One of the enemy's missiles struck beneath the Lieutenant-Colonel's horse, as he
stood in his place in line. The explosion threw horse and man into the air, tearing
the animal to pieces, but the rider came down unhurt, and emerged from the cloud of
smoke with no blood upon him but that of the slaughtered animal,
"A strange instance of poetic justice occurred during this fire. Two women living
among the hills, leaving the safe retreat of their homes, came down into the Valley to
see Stonewall Jackson defeat the Yankees. As they sat in a room looking towards
the scene of action, a shell from the enemy's battery struck the building and exploded,
tearing off a leg from one and seriously injuring the other. Crippled for life by their
friends, they had to depend upon the surgery of the hated foe for their rescue from
immediate death."
53




418           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION. 
while to bridge the stream, the command remained during the
whole of the following day, and until the afternoon of the 2d, when,
after great difficulty, a crossing was effected and the march continued to Newmarket.
About neon of Friday, the 6th of June, the army arrived upon
the hills near Harrisonburg. Broderick, with his company in the
advance, dashed through the streets of the town, chasing some
mounted men who had lingered there for observation.  As he
emerged into the open road, a body of infantry, lining the stone
walls on either side, rose and fired into his men. Broderick drew
up, and coolly scanned the numbers of the enemy. Then, seeing
that the force was too great for him to charge, he wheeled and
retired, with a deliberation that, as was afterwards learned, was the
object of high admiration among the enemy. Then, in column of
four, Wyndham trotted through the town and took up a position
beyond it, sending out skirmishers through the roads in front.
About three o'clock, after a colloquy with one of General Fremont's
scouts, the regiment, accompanied by a battalion of the New York
Mounted Rifles, advanced at a fast trot on the road to Port Republic. The regiment, which had left Fredericksburg about eight
hundred strong, was now reduced to less than half that number;
but those who remained were as full of daring as was their gallant
leader. As Shelmire, with the leading squadron, passed the line
of Sawyer's skirmishers, the latter called out to him to take care,
for the enemy was in force in the wood beyond.  The Captain
answered in his resolute way, "I have been ordered to charge any
force that I may meet, and it is my duty to try and do it," and
with these words he continued on. Past the remains of a burning
ambulance, Wyndham carried his whole force forward, with drawn
sabers, all of them wild with the excitement of the race. The
narrow road, fenced in on each side, and with the bordering fields,
also enclosed by strong worm fences, dipped into a hollow through
which ran a streamlet with swampy banks; and rising with a
gradual ascent, entered a wood that crowned the summit of the
hill. On the left, the wood was diminished to a thin belt hiding
an open field, strongly fenced in by posts and rails, while the front




THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).           419
of the wood was there also lined by an irregular worm  fence.
Beneath the shadow of the trees, a small body of rebel cavalry was
drawn up across the road.  "Form platoons!" shouted the Colonel,
catching, with moistened hand, a firmer grasp of his saber. While
the men were still hurrying their wearied horses into the fresh
formation, he gave the orders, " Gallop! Charge! " and the whole
body, half-arrayed, plunged forward to the attack. The head of
the first battalion entered the wood by the road, driving in the
squadron of the enemy.  The second, diverging to the left, conmmenced to tear down the fence, Wyndham  and Karge both dis.
mounting to assist in the operation; while the third battalion
moved still further to the left, to force an entrance there. Shelmire led the first squadron in until he met a heavy column of cavalry blocking up the road as far as he could see it; and at the same
moment a force of infantry, lying hidden in the wood, poured a
tremendous volley into his flank. Two men, Charles Parry and
William Traughan, fell dead at that discharge, and a lad, named
Jonathan Jones, reeled, mortally wounded, from his horse. Simultaneously with this discharge, two regiments of rebel infantry, from
behind the post and rail-fence, opened a steady fire upon the
remainder of the regiment. Even under these disadvantages, the
high spirit of the men sustained them. The first squadron, the
only one that could see an enemy, deliberately returned saber, and,
drawing their pistols, commenced a reply to the bullets that were
sweeping through their ranks; and at the same moment the heads
of the other two battalions forced themselves into the wood, from
which issued a steady stream of fire.
Fortunately for our men, the weapons of the enemy threw too
high, thus preventing an immediate annihilation of the command;
but even when our columns had entered the wood, they found the
enemy perfectly protected from assault. There was nothing for it
but to fall back into the field, and endeavor to form line again
even beneath the fire. As the rest of the regiment formed, Shelmire, seeing the cavalry of the enemy sweeping around his flank,
was forced out of the wood, and his men, pressed by the rebels
upon one side, were driven against the right of the line that was




420           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
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THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).           421
just forming.  In a moment there was a scene of inextricable confusion. The Colonel had entered the wood, but had not come out
of it; the Lieutenant-Colonel, only saved by some of his men from
being taken prisoner, had not yet regained his saddle; the Senior
Major was enveloped in the rout of the first battalion; while the
standard-bearer, unhorsed, had lost the colors.  There was thus no
general rallying points, and each officer and man had to act on his
individual responsibility.  Kester had one little knot of men collected, Lucas another; other officers were hunting for their men;
when, with a yell, a body of rebel horsemen swept down upon the
disordered troopers. The Mounted Rifles, who had not charged,
instead of covering the Jersey, turned and left the field; and the
First Regiment, under the terrible fire of the infantry, had no
chance of meeting properly this fierce assault. The whole body
broke from the field, the officers still keeping towards the enemy,
and endeavoring at intervals, and with some success, to check the
vigor of the pursuit.
Among the last to retire was Captain Thomas Haines. In the
midst of the confusion his slender form was conspicuous, as he
called to the men of his company and sought to rally them around
him. As he was crossing the heavy ground bordering the stream,
a squad of the Virginia Cavalry, led by an officer in a long gray
coat, who sat erect and easily upon his bounding charger, came
down upon the flank of the fugitives.  A bullet from that officer's
pistol penetrated the body of Captain Haines, who dropped, dying,
from his horse. Broderick, in whose company he had been Lieutenant, was close behind him as he fell. Rising on his horse, he
turned round upon the rebels, and shouting "stop!" fired his
revolver at their leader.  The officer reeled in his saddle, and his
men, catching him  in their arms, hurried back from  the spot.
Broderick stooped over Haines, and called him by his name; but
there was no answer, and there was no time to pause. Leaving
the lifeless form, as the enemy again pressed upon him, he sadly
spurred his horse to a renewal of his flight.
If a cavalry charge is glorious, a cavalry rout is dreadful. Pressing upon one another, strained to the utmost of their speed, the




422           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
horses catch an infection of fear which rouses them to frenzy. The
men, losing their places in the ranks, and all power of formation
or hope of combined resistance, rush madly for some point of
safety upon which it may be possible to rally. Each check in
front makes the mass behind more dense and desperate, until
horses and men are overthrown and ridden over, trampled on by
others as helpless as themselves to rescue or to spare. The speed
grows momentarily greater.  Splashing through pools of mire,
breaking down fences, darting under trees, with clang of sabers
and din of hoofs, officers wild with shame and rage shouting themselves hoarse with unavailing curses, and the bullets of the enemy
whistling shrilly overhead, the mingled mass sweeps on, until utter
exhaustion stops them, or their commanders, struggling to the front,
can indicate the place to form. Thus the First New Jersey galloped from the field of their defeat, leaving their Colonel, three
Captains, one-twelfth of their troopers and the regimental colors in
the hands of the enemy.
Rallying on the first ground that afforded them a chance to form,
the regiment checked the pursuit before it was relieved by the rest
of the brigade, and then dispirited and broken down, it retired into
camp. A  few of the officers remained upon the field, and were
spectators of that magnificent fight of the Pennsylvania Bucktails,
in which that battalion, unsupported, checked and even drove the
whole of Ashby's infantry. Into the woods the little body of one
hundred and twenty officers and men hurled themselves against the
enemy. Two regiments that were in their front reeled and retreated
before their rapid and deadly fire — Ashby himself falling in the
vain attempt to rally them.  Assailed in flank by a third regiment,
with their Colonel and twenty-five men wounded, and no support
coming to them  from the infantry of Fremont, the little band
retired, the Colonel refusing to be carried from the field where his
men had killed and wounded many more than their own number
of the enemy. With this glorious contest ended the fighting for
the day.
While the Major-General was spending the next day in deliberation, Captain Broderick, the Surgeon and another member of the




THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).    423
regimental staff, accompanied by three men of Company K, resolved
to attempt the recovery of the body of Captain Haines. Passing
beyond the point where Fremont's scouts had ventured, they followed the road to the battle-ground, discovering and relieving some
wounded Federal soldiers, and some wounded officers of the
enemy. They found that a worthy farmer of the neighborhood had
decently interred the uncoffined corpse, and that he was the only
one of our officers who had fallen on the field. The others were all
prisoners and had been carried off by the enemy. In a house, a
little way beyond, lay young Jones, of Company A, at the very
point of death. He was very young, with a face as smooth and
beardless as a girl's, and with that sweetness of expression which is
even lovelier in masculine youth than in the features of a woman.
As his Captain, Shelmire, was led past him a prisoner, the boy
spoke his name. The Captain, dismounting, took him tenderly in
his arms, soothing him and comforting. Then bending down and
printing on his pale lips a kiss, the stout but gentle-hearted soldier
continued his march to prison.
Removing the body of poor Haines from the earth, and preparing
it as well as they could for removal, the party sadly departed into
the farmer's house to wash their hands. Here as they purified
themselves from dust, their eyes fell upon some appetizing pies
which the woman of the house had just drawn out of the oven;
and the ever-present hunger of campaigners awoke in them with all
its vigor. They hadjust concluded a bargain for these dainties when
Sergeant Brooks announced the appearance of the enemy, compelling them to mount their horses and abandon the enclosure of the
house. There, under cover of the fatal wood, were undoubtedly
eight or ten rebel horsemen, maintaining a threatening appearance.
But when men have been long on rough fare, a pie becomes a matter of importance, not to be resigned for trivial causes. Showing a
firm front to the enemy, therefore, a detachment of the party advanced to the house, and received the precious dainties, bearing
them off triumphantly, in the very teeth of the enemy; and then
with dignified gravity of pace, they commenced their retreat and
the consumption of the eatables.




424           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
In the Harrisonburg churchyard their lamented comrade was
interred on the following day, while the cannonade at Cross Keys
thundered out a requiem; and no eye was tearless as the earth was
thrown upon his coffin. Iie was one of those youths, in whom
center the affections of a family, who were yet solemnly dedicated
to the service of their country; and doing that service nobly, he
laid down his young life. What he might have been, who can
tell? What he was is the treasured memory of those who have a
right to keep the veil drawn over the picture of their love as well
as their affliction.
The battle of Cross Keys was fought when Jackson was able at
the same time to check Fremont and still keep open his line of
retreat by Port Republic. Movements that looked feasible on
paper, failed in the field, either from incompetence, dilatoriness or
want of harmony in the commanders, or else through those accidents of the weather which had not been taken into account; and
the campaign which looked so fair in May, closed in June with a
succession of defeats.
III-POPE'S ADVANCE.
On the Wednesday succeeding the action at Cross Keys, the
First Cavalry was ordered to return to General McDowell, and by
the third week in June was in camp at Manassas Junction, where
it remained until the stragglers had come in, when it proceeded, by
way of Warrenton Junction and Culpepper Court House, to Madison Court House. Thence it was ordered to proceed, under General
Hatch, to Gordonsville and Charlottesville, to hold the railroad
and destroy communication with the Valley.  Hatch, however,
giving undue credence to the reports of natives and others, imagined (erroneously) that a force had been thrown on his flank, and
that the front was too strongly held to be attacked, and consequently, instead of carrying out the plans of General Pope, (who
was much enraged on account of the failure,) countermarched his
command through a difficult country, by way of Sperryville, to
Culpepper. Subsequently, the regiment was again sent forward,
but without result.  About the last of July, it was advanced to




ThE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).    425
the Rapidan, which it held from Rapidan Station to near Cave's
Ford, connecting with Buford's pickets from Madison Court House.
No movement of any moment being made, the regiment remained
there, skirmishing successfully every day, twelve miles from any
support, while the enemy again took the offensive.
At length, on the night of the 7th of August, General Jackson
crossed with fifteen thousand men at Barnett's Ford. The following morning, at three o'clock, Colonel Karge, with a battalion of
the regiment, moved around the left of the enemy, where the
rebel cavalry had left their tracks the night before. CWtain Janeway taking one direction and Karge another, Lieutenant Beekman,
in charge of Janeway's extreme advance, pushing rapidly along,
dashed upon and captured a party at breakfast, coming off with
twenty-three prisoners.  Captain Bristoe, in another direction,
captured two; and, moving by bye-roads quite around the enemy's
left, the battalion returned to the main body in safety. Meanwhile,
Captains Boyd and Lucas, with a small body of sixty men, remained on picket at Rapidan Station. A. dispatch had been sent
them in the morning warning them to retire, but the messenger
never reached the station. Towards evening, Captain Boyd, who
had been giving some information to a topographical engineer,
found himself cut off from his men, and pursued by a party of the
enemy. In order to escape, he was forced to take the road to the
regimental camp, but as he drew near, an old negro woman warned
him that it was in possession of the enemy; and as he turned, the
rebels, whom he had distanced, again caught sight of him and
gave pursuit. Dashing into the woods, he managed, after awhile,
to elude the foe, and after crouching in the woods during the
night, the next morning joined the regiment as it formed in line of
battle. Captain Lucas, thus left in command, with cool audacity
held his position through the night; and though his pickets were
three times driven in, each time replaced them in person, determined to hold his ground to the very last. In the morning, he
found two rebel regiments half a mile on his right, and another at
the same distance on the left; but going quietly and cautiously
through the woods, he brought off his men in safety except two
54




426           NEW JERSEY AND TiE REBELLION.
who had been taken during the night. This steadiness of Lucas
probably saved the day at Cedar Mountain, as it delayed the forces
of the enemy, who might otherwise have turned our left.
IVyCEDAn MOUNTAIN.
On Saturday morning, the 9th of August, General Banks drew
up his cavalry in line of battle supporting his batteries, and distributed the two or three regiments of infantry belonging to General
Crawford in the most imposing manner possible. From  seven
o'clock in the morning until half-past three in the afternon, the men
stood there motionless, only occasional shots being exchanged between our own and the hostile batteries. In the meantime the rest
of Banks' (skeleton) corps came up; but still he was compelled to
keep his cavalry in front to hide his weakness in infantry.  At
half-past three a vigorous fire was opened upon our line from the
left, to which the battery of the First New York Artillery replied
with great effect. Lieutenant-Colonel Karge, though so prostrated
by sickness as to be unable to keep command of the regiment,
immediately drew it into a position where a rising ground in front
disturbed the accuracy of the rebel range, and then led out the
skirmishers of the first squadron under Captain Bristoe, of Company
B. This splendid body of men held their ground nobly, and for
three-quarters of an hour checked the efforts of the rebels to debouch round a wood. At length the enemy leveled at them a telling artillery fire, and with heavy expenditure of ammunition forced
them to retire, after the Rhode Island Cavalry, which covered their
left, had swept back at a gallop. Both bodies of skirmishers, however, re-formed, and took their places in the ranks with marvelous
promptitude. Still the enemy made but little progress, the battery
in his front having command of his line.  Presently, however,
determined if possible, to capture the guns, the rebels threw out a
regiment of sharpshooters to disperse the cavalry, and the heat of
the engagement at once became more intense and exciting.  At
this moment, Broderick, who was in charge of some skirmishers on
the right, stealing cautiously through the timber, discovered the
precise position of the rebels who were engaging us and hastily




THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).               427
signaling the commander of the battery, and procuring the requisite direction, shell after shell was promptly dropped into the midst
of the densely-formed brigade lying behind the cover, causing the
men to scatter in dismay and disorder-many being killed outright.
But still the rebel sharpshooters were pouring a vigorous fire into
our line, the balls falling thickly among and around the cavalrymen.  Suddenly there was a slight confusion in the ranks of Company A.  "Steady there," cried the Major, sternly.  Two men,
Washington Rainier and Albert Young, drew their horses out of
the ranks and saluted, saying quietly, " We are hit, sir," as they
moved to the rear. The ranks closed up again like a wall, and in
ten minutes, these two men, instead of nursing their hurts, had the
balls extracted, the wounds bandaged by the Surgeon, and before
the blood had clotted on the lint, were once more back in their
places. Once the rebels attempted to bring a piece of artillery out
of the wood against us, but the men of our battery were too vigilant for them; as they brought it above the brow of the hill, a
gallant Dutch gunner squinted carefully along his piece, and instantly discharging it, the rebel gun was seen to bound upwards and
topple over dismounted to the ground.
But still the balls of the sharpshooters kept doing their work,
and our position was fast becoming untenable.   A  fresh rebel
battery had been so placed as to command the entire field in which
the cavalry were posted. General Banks, who had come up, seeing
that the whole line was threatened with annihilation, ordered them
to retire to a new position, which was done in perfect order, though
the ground they traversed was like the floor of a fiery furnace with
exploding shells —three batteries of the enemy hurling upon it a
converging fire. As the Jersey regiment passed his range, two
of the platoon commanders fell-Beekman with two pounds of iron
in his shoulder; Alanson Austin with his thigh almost severed
from his body.4 With the same discharge several of the men were
4 Major Beaumont's "Reminiscences" has the following in reference to young Austin:
"There lay the poor boy, almost a child in look, and a sort of pet among officers
and men, pale and stunned, in the arms of some of his platoon, his right leg nearly
severed from his body. The crushed and torn muscles showed among them the broken
bone, and the blood dropped slowly to the ground, mingling with the dust. To get




428               NEW  JERSEY  AND  THE REBELLION.
wounded, and the horse of Craig, Sergeant-Major of the third
battalion, was struck dead to the earth. Though he was the last
man of the column, and there was now no protection against the
advancing enemy, he paused in the midst of the fire to remove his
saddle and equipments, and bearing them on his back proceeded on
foot to re-join his regiment.
The obstinacy of the cavalry and Crawford's small brigade had
accomplished the vital object; and when they retired, it was upon
the line which Banks had formed behind them.  The First New
Jersey had no more actual fighting to encounter, though they continued  drawn up upon the left flank, ready to charge, should it
be required.  Upon their comrades of the First Pennsylvania was
imposed the only duty that afterwards fell to the share of the
cavalry.
Brief as the engagement had been, the number of the wounded
was very large-though the First Jersey lost only eleven men. All
night long the surgeons were busily employed, and yet there seemed
no diminution  in the number who needed care-until at' length,
Assistant-Surgeon Dayton, of the First, sank  down in utter prostration.i  Just then the enemy opened a cannonade in the darkness
him into an ambulance and drive back to the hospital seemed fearfully long for all;
and the men felt every jolt almost as sharply as did he. Behind a wood was spread
out the ghastly apparatus of military surgery, and the poor boy was removed as quickly
as circumstances would permit to the neighborhood of the table. As he lay in the
Chaplain's arms he seemed to recognize the voice that spoke to him, and with the faint
gaspings of a dying man he whispered,'Oh, Chaplain, if I could only pray!''Shall
I pray for you?''Yes.' And the Chaplain put up those exquisite petitions in the
service for the visitation of the sick. Austin's lips moved as if he were following the
words of the petition to the very end. Then he was lifted on the table, the sponge of
chloroform applied, and the ghastly work of amputation performed. He never recovered from the shock. His mind wandered again to the action, and he uttered words of
command to his men.  At last, with a feeble motion of his hand, he made an effort to
ejaculate'Star-spangled banner!' These were his last words. The shells of the
enemy came plunging through the wood, and struck against the fence behind which
our hospital was established. Austin was placed in an ambulance, beside Beekman,
who had been hit almost at the same moment; and the whole establishment moved
back to a house in the rear.  Scarcely had he been removed from the vehicle when he
quietly breathed his last. He lies buried in Culpepper, in the southwest corner of
our military graveyard, while his cousin Haines sleeps at Harrisonburg, awaiting the
same general Resurrection."
5 A note from Chaplain Pine says:
"Surgeon Phillips was sick inWashington, Assistant-Surgeon Dayton had been lying
down all day oppressed with illness; but the moment that his services were required,
he rallied his energies, and worked with zeal and efficiency. Though the loss of the




THE SIXTEENTH  REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).                     429
upon some of our men, who had incautiously  lighted fires to prepare a cup of coffee. General Pope, who had but lately arrived
upon the field, seeing a battery not far from where he was standing. the balls from which fell into our ranks, ordered Captain Asch,
of the First New Jersey, who was on his staff, to ride over to it
and direct its commander to cease firing. Asch hinted that he
thought it was a rebel battery.  "Nonsense," replied the General,
"you go and give them  the order."   The Captain rode boldly up
and  exclaimed,  "The  General directs that you  cease  firing."
"Does the General order that?" asked the surprised artillery officer.
"Yes," said Asch, "he sent me with  peremptory  orders;" and
while the wondering rebel obeyed, the aid galloped off, delighted
to escape without detection.6 The fire ceased, but at the same
moment the battery was opened upon by one of our own with a
raking fire, and next morning the ground was found covered with
regiment was but eleven, the loss of the army was great; and he labored on until, at
eleven o'clock at night, he fell down by the side of the man whose wounds he was
dressing. Even then, he took charge of a train of ambulances containing fifty of the
wounded, took them into Culpepper, found a church to use as a hospital, received the
next day nearly thirty more, managed so skilfully as to have only one death and no
amputations, procured abundant rations and hay for bedding, had the air kept pure
and the building clean, and had altogether by far the best hospital in the place."
6 Lieutenant-Colonel Karge had been in hospital at Culpepper Court House. Before
assuming command he issued the following order:
[Regimental Order, No 171.1
"HEADQUARTERS FIRST NEW JERSEY CAVALRY, 
CAMP NEAR CEDAR MOUNTAIN, VIRGINIA, August 14, 1862.
" The commanding officer of this regiment takes the first opportunity of expressing
his high gratification at the cool and brave behavior of both the men and officers during
the last action. Although himself severely indisposed, he was watching the movements of the regiment, and its intrepidity while under a galling fire; with unlimited
pride, Major Beaumont in command of the regiment, acquitted himself nobly, as an
officer, by his coolness, and the excellent manoeuvers which he performed under a
heavy fire of shell.' The commanding officer, therefore, gives his heartfelt thanks to you, brave defenders of your country and your principles, and you may well rest assured that the date of
the ninth of August will be deeply impressed upon his heart, as the day on which he
has seen the regiment, nurtured by him, do its whole duty. The commanding officer
desires to take notice of the coolness, prompt obedience to orders, and energetic performance of their duty, by Hospital-Steward Samuel C. Lame, Orderly William Shaw,
Corporal Voorhees, Ambulance-Driver McAffee, and the men attached to the Hospital
Department, without exception, and to give them the thanks of the regiment for
promptly assisting our brave wounded from the field, in spite of danger and under a
heavy fire. By order of
"JOSEPH KARGE, Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding."




430           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
dead horses, heaped together where they stood when waiting to
limber up.
The glorious resistance shown by our small force on the 9th, was
not followed up by General Pope on the 10th, though the enemy
was actually leaving his train and his artillery teamless in the road,
in a confused apprehension of pursuit from us; and on the 18th,
the First Regiment was ordered, with the rest of the cavalry, to
cover the rear in a retrograde movement. The brigade at that time
consisted of the First New Jersey, First Pennsylvania and Second
and Tenth New York Cavalry Regiments. On the morning of the
20th, the Second New York and the New Jersey regiment had a
skirmish near Brandy Station, in which the enemy was driven
back with loss. As the brigade approached the Rappahannock,
General Stuart swept down upon it in force along the road over
which it had passed. The Harris Light (Second New York) led by
Kilpatrick, was at once ordered to the charge; the First New Jersey forming upon its right, the Tenth New York deploying on the
left and the Pennsylvanians moving into reserve. But the Harris
Light, otherwise splendidly officered, had one inefficient officer.
At the moment when the head of the opposing columns came
together, the Lieutenant heading the first platoon of the regiment
drew rein and backed his horse right through the ranks behind
him. Instantly the whole column, all the men being inexperienced,
halted in confusion, and a moment after the whole regiment broke
and swept back, thus opening the center of the field, and forcing
Karge to change front with his line. Before, however, the new
formation could be completed, the masses of the enemy swept down
upon the front and flank. Karge emptied the chambers of his revolver into their ranks, and then throwing the weapon at their heads,
dashed among them with his saber, followed by the men around
him, the enemy giving way before-his impetuous charge. But with
both flanks of his line broken, all that he could hope to do was to
regain the reserve and rally under cover of his charge, and, accordingly, skirmishers and main body, with one accord, spurred as
rapidly as possible to the rear, fighting hand to hand as they did
so with the foremost of their pursuers. A wide ditch stretched




THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT —(FIPST CAVALRY).          431
across the field, and was relied upon by the Colonel to assist the
reserve in their charge. Many of the exhausted horses fell as they
strove to leap it, and headlong above them rolled the chasing
rebels. As he drew near it-the last man of the Jersey-Lieutenant Robbins' horse fell dead beneath him. Robbins kept his
feet, and actually sprang across the ditch on foot, but he was soon
seized by his pursuers, dragged to the rear and cut down while a
prisoner, though fortunately saved from death by a metal plate in
the center of his cap. Meanwhile, the reserve had drawn back to
the woods, and there was nothing left for our retreating men but
to dash on through the timber, still pursued. But at the moment
when their rear seemed in the hands of the rebels, Broderick rushed
with some fifty men upon the flank of the enemy, while Lucas simultaneously wheeled his company upon them  on the other side.
The unexpected charge cut the rebels in two and drove back the
mass of them with loss. At the same time, Falls, with his Pennsylvanians, charging upon all who passed the wood, dispersed and
cut them down. Karge with his Adjutant charged unsupported
upon a party of fifteen and drove them before him, but a bullet
took effect in his leg, and forced him to give up the chase. The
fighting was over, but of the two hundred and fifty Jerseymen
engaged, forty did not answer to their names. Karge was disabled,
Hick hurt and unhorsed, Robbins and Stuart in the enemy's hands.
Many others had been captured, but were cut out by the well-timed
charge of Broderick, Lucas and their comrades.
The few rebels who had penetrated the woods had. time only to
see the last of our army crossing the Rappahannock bridge, and
forming in safety on the opposite shore-so that, in spite of the
reverses, the object for which the men had fought was gained, and
the rebels had nothing but the barren field of battle.
V- MANASSAS PLAINS AND ALDIE.
Fortunately, about this time Colonel Wyndham re-appeared in
the field, and resumed command of the regiment, which now became
constantly engaged in marching and skirmishing. Finally, after
Jackson had made his famous march by the flank into the rear of




432          iNEW JERSEY AlD THE REBELLION.
our forces, the brigade was sent to hold Thoroughfare Gap, upoii
the maintenance of which depended the safety of our army-where
it remained one day, taking one hundred and fifty prisoners, and
blockading the Gap by felling trees across it. Sergeant Brooks, of
Company K, alone brought in seven armed prisoners. Towards
evening, as the advance of the enemy was pressing towards the
Gap, General Ricketts with four brigades came up, and planting his
artillery, swept the entire defile with canister, driving back the head
of the rebel column with heavy loss. But all this time our subordinate commanders were without instructions to direct their movements in combination with other parts of the army-were utterly
ignorant indeed of the situation of affairs at other points in the
field. So far as Bayard and Ricketts were concerned, they had to
decide absolutely for themselves, prove the study of their own situation, with Jackson barring the roads to the Capital, and Lee thundering upon their rear. Rightly, therefore, they yielded the possession of the Gap, and fell back towards the railroad at Manassas and
Bristow Stations, the only path which opened to them a retreat. In
the battles of the 30th and 31st, which terminated so disastrously,
the brigade did not actively participate. During the period of the
rout, it was deployed over the field, checking stragglers and forcing
them back to their ranks, and all through the disastrous night of
our retreat, the men did faithful and exhausting duty.  On Monday,
the 1st of September, the brigade supported the left in the fight
from  Centerville to Fairfax Court House, only skirmishers, however, having any work to do. During the night, it covered the
right flank of the retreating column from Centerville to Fairfax,
after which, utterly exhausted, the First Jersey went into camp at
Bailey's Cross Roads.
During the months of September and October, the brigade,
although not accompanying the Army of the Potomac in the
Maryland campaign, was kept constantly employed, detachments
patrolling and reconnoitering the whole country about the late
battle-fields. Lieutenant-Colonel Karge, who had returned to duty
before his wounds were healed, took command of a force composed
of detachments from several regiments, and swept the country near




THE SIXTEENTII REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).    488
Leesburg to the base of the Blue Ridge, while Wyndham, in command of the cavalry of Sigel, dashed through Thoroughfare Gap,
and harassed the communications of Lee. On one occasion, in the
face of infantry, cavalry and artillery, he fought his way through
the Gap, with a number of prisoners and wagons, previously taken,
and while the rebels continued a vigorous fire at the position which
they supposed him to occupy, he had coolly moved off by echelon,
and was five miles on his homeward road. In the early part of
October, Karge received an order to go into Warrenton. So well
was the movement executed that our troops were dashing into the
town, by three roads, before the enemy had an intimation of his
approach. Those who could, mounted their horses and fled towards
Sulphur Springs, leaving their Colonel and many of their comrades
in our hands. A lot of stores and one thousand six hundred prisoners constituted the full fruits of the expedition.
On the 29th and 30th of October, Bayard's Brigade, fifteen hundred strong, starting from Chantilly, scouted through Aldie and
Middleburg up to Upperville.  On the 81st, it lay at Aldie.  On
that day, Stuart with a large force of cavalry, came upon a portion
of Stoneman's picket on the Snickerville road, capturing all but a
dozen or so, who retreated in great confusion and alarm, carrying
the news to the First Jersey. Captain Kester at once gathered his
men together, and forming in the village street, awaited the onset
of the rebels. Down the hill they came with a headlong dash,
expecting to carry everything before them, and wheeling into the
village rode at our little squadron. But the little band never
wavered at their approach, and instinctively the leading files of the
Virginians began to lessen their speed. At the moment when their
ranks were thus thickened and confused, Captain Kester poured
into them a volley from his carbines, and then with sabers drawn
and a ringing cheer, our troops charged the startled enemy. Back
rushed the rebels to escape the shock, and after them went the
Captain, while close upon his heels followed the rest of the First
New Jersey, eager to press the advantage.  As the regiment rose
the hill, Kester made his squadron swing off to the left, and led
them on as skirmishers, the regiment keeping to the turnpike and
55




434           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
in close column of fours, seeking to ride the rebels down before
there should be a necessity for deploying. Only a quarter of a
mile beyond the ground dipped with a rapid descent to the level of
the valley, and if the rebels could be driven over the brow of the
hill they would be exposed helplessly to a plunging fire of artillery.
Already the advanced party of the pursued had scattered wildly
over the fields, and but a single turn of the road intervened between
the head of the column and the desired position, when around that
bend came a column like our own charging to meet the charge of
our own men. Even the blown and exhausted horses of the pursuers had sufficient vigor to meet their assault, and as the columns
approached, the head of the rebel regiment broke and turned away.
But then, as the chase commenced, a squadron in single rank crossed
the summit of the hill and opened a flanking fire upon the close
column of the First New Jersey. Men and horses went down
beneath the volley to which but a feeble and scattering return could
be made. The rush for the position had failed, and now in turn
our men had to run for shelter that would allow of due deployment
and a regular engagement. As the column wheeled by fours, Sawyer. who was last in the retreat, was struck by a bullet in the loins,
and though he retained his seat on horseback, he was disabled for
further present duty. The horses of two or three men sank under
them, and they became prisoners of the quickly-pursuing foe. By
this time Karge had brought up the Second New York as a support
to the force engaged, and their appearance, with the steady fire of
our skirmishers, relieved the flanks of the First New Jersey from
the annoyance of pursuit, so that it was easy to form in line under
cover of the undulating ground. And now each side had taken its
position, from which the other was to seek to drive it. The whole
force engaged of the National troops consisted of the First New
Jersey, Second New York and a section of a horse battery, all
under command of Colonel Karge-General Bayard holding the
remainder of the brigade in reserve, ready to meet the contingency
of a flank attack. The rebels had two or more of their most
distinguished cavalry regiments, and a battery of four guns, all
under the immediate command of General Stuart; so there was a




THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT —(FIRST CAVALRY).          435
fair opportunity of testing the ability of the famous rebel, under
circumstances very favorable to him. Several times the rebels
formed to charge and came forward from the wood against the
skirmish line, but each time they were driven back by the rapid
fire of the skirmishers alone; and while they were vigorously striving to break through that apparently slight obstruction, Lucas
returning from a scout to Middleburg swept from behind their line
and formed threateningly upon their right flank, Karge also had
sent a squadron of the Second New York to proceed by a blind
road about a mile and a half around the rebel left, and then turn
in and attack them; and while waiting for their operation, nothing
was attempted on our part but resistance. Unfortunately, the officer commanding the flanking party failed fully to comprehend his
orders, and after going the distance ordered, instead of pressing the
enemy, halted, ald made no further movement. Thus the afternoon passed away with no perceptible advantage to either side,
and after a continuous artillery combat, which seemed to damage
nobody, the first signs of approaching night were gladly welcomed
by both parties as an excuse for a dignified retirement. Scarcely
had the two separated when the sound of troops approaching was
heard on the road behind the First New Jersey, and followed by a
long line of quickly-moving  cavalry, Wyndham  came riding
towards the Gap. He had heard the guns from  his quarters at
Chantilly, and his instinct led him to the support of his gallant
troopers. As the brigade retired to prepare for the serious operations which were approaching, he pushed after the retreating enemy;
and picking up stragglers, and sweeping over the country, he harassed their. flanks and rear during the night.
Stuart had designed to make a reconnoissance in force of the
whole Piedmont region, and to interfere with any advance on the
part of Sigel's troops. Could he destroy the bridges and interrupt
railway communication, a fatal obstacle might be opposed to the
advance of the Army of the Potomac; while at the same time the
line of Lee's retreat might be covered and kept secure. By the
skirmish at Aldie not only was this prevented, but his own retreat
was delayed until it was endangered. Caught in the vicinity of




436           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Union by Pleasonton, all day on Sunday Stuart fought at a disadvantage; and it was only by the sacrifice of two guns and many
men that he was enabled to make his way by Ashby's Gap to the
shelter of the rebel infantry. Thus, though not twenty men were
lost on both sides in the action, its results were such as to entitle it
to mention in the regimental history.
On Monday, the 3d of November, Bayard's Brigade united finally
with the Army of the Potomac, joining it in the vicinity of Upperville, as it pressed down towards Warrenton, turning the flank of
General Lee. With the operations which threatened the destruction of General Hill at Culpepper, while Lee was at Gordonsville,
and Jackson had not left the Valley, the First New Jersey Cavalry
had nothing to do, for it was entrusted with the delicate and arduous duty of protecting the long line of army wagons which moved
in its rear along the different roads and passes of the country.
Under Major Beaumont the regiment was kept incessantly in
motion, picking up guerrillas, watching dangerous defiles, scouting
down the artillery, forever on the alert against attack or surprise.
It is not to be wondered at, that such harassing duty quickly began
to tell upon the horses, and that every available animal in the
country was needed and sought for to re-mount the men. The
seizure of such horses, therefore, was entered upon with energy,
and in most cases accomplished with success.
As the regiment started oin its return from Berlin to re-join the
army, a squad of men from Company D happened to get separated
from the main body, and ignorant of the direction which it had
taken, took by chance the road to Snicker's Gap.  A couple of
pieces of artillery, which had been sent forward to supply the place
of disabled guns, had also wandered off in the same direction, and
with a sutler's wagon or two were about to fall a prey to the swarm
of guerrillas who swept over the country in our rear. Just as the
rebels were rushing out upon the vehicles, our men appeared in
sight, accompanied by a few infantry stragglers. In a moment, the
infantry sprang behind a stone wall and opened a steady fire upon
the crowd of thieves, while the Jerseymen, with a yell, rode in
upon them, pistol in hand.  Down went two or three of the rebels




THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).         437
and over went several of their horses. Into the woods darted the
rest, pursued by our few troopers. In ten minutes there was not
an enemy to be seen, except the few left dying on the ground.
Extricating the guns from their awkward position, and partaking
of the sutler's gratitude, the Jerseymen turned about for Leesburg,
and in an hour'or two were in the lines of Wyndham, who had
again come out into the Valley from Chantilly. The rebel cavalry,
hearing of the unprotected condition of the guns and wagons, were
not long in following their trail; and seeing the advanced guard of
Wyndham, rushed upon it, mistaking it for the few troopers who
had before rescued the desired booty. Never were men more
sadly mistaken. Wyndham let them through his advance, and
then, wheeling his flankers inwards, enveloped the Southern cavalry
with six hundred men. Hopelessly surrounded, they yielded to
his force, and the partisan troops of London County were at nightfall a hundred and fifty weaker than in the morning.
VI-SCOUTING-BRANDY STATION.
While the army was preparing to move upon Fredericksburg,
Bayard was employed in scouting on the Northern Neck. For
three weeks after this, the First New Jersey was encamped at
Brook's Station, on the Aquia Railroad, doing picket-duty, which
it abandoned to cross the Rappahannock with Franklin's Grand
Division, not, however, becoming actively engaged. Bayard being
killed, the brigade next day re-crossed the river, Colonel Gregg,
of the Eighth Pennsylvania, assuming command, and the weary
troopers, going into winter-quarters, found the rest and strength so
long needed and so long denied.
Spring came at last, and on the 13th of April, 1863, the cavalry
division of General Gregg left its camp near Belle Plain Landing,
and uniting with the rest of the cavalry corps, moved towards
Bealton Station, on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. After
some days of marching to and fro, the First New Jersey encamped
at Warrenton Junction, whence, on the 29th, it moved down to
Kelley's Ford, on the Rappahannock, crossing on the following day
and moving on to Mountain Run, and thence across the Rapidan




438           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
at Raccoon Ford. The next morning, the New Jersey regiment,
still leading the division, on the road to Orange Springs, Major
Beaumont surprised and charged a small party of the enemy,
capturing their Major and several other prisoners. Still pushing
on, the command on the following morning reached Louisa Court
House, where several hours were occupied in tearing up the track
and burning the sleepers of the railroad for several miles on either
side of the village. Arrived at Thompson's Cross Roads, Wyndham was ordered, with his own regiment and some auxiliary forces,
to proceed to Columbia, on the James River, where he arrived in
due time, destroying the canal bridges, the boats loaded with commissary stores, a commissary storehouse, and a warehouse of
Government tobacco. Major Beaumont and a party of fifty men
set out to destroy the aqueduct over the James River, but were
unfortunately ordered back before the work could be completed.
Meanwhile, Fitzhugh Lee had collected all his available cavalry,
and was pushing down to intercept our returning column and recapture the valuable train of horses and supplies gathered during
the advance; but by a forced march the detachment arrived in
safety, the next day, at Thompson's Cross Roads, rejoining there
the force of the Commanding General.  The day after, having
collected all the parties not finally detached, Stoneman began his
retreat, and two or three days after, the entire force reached the
neighborhood of its starting place, where, with occasional changes
of encampment, it remained until circumstances again called it to
actual encounter with the foe.
The battle of Chancellorsville having been lost, and Hooker's
army retired to its old position, Lee had promptly put his columns
in motion and concentrated, early in June, on Culpepper Court
House-thence operating on our right. Hooker accordingly massed
his cavalry near Catlett's Station, giving its command to Pleasanton,
who at once prepared to move across the Rappahannock.  On the
8th, Gregg's Division broke camp at Warrenton Junction and
marched to Kelley's Ford, where it bivouacked for the night, crossing the following morning. Capturing or cutting off the videttes,
Captain Yorke led the advance around the position of the rebel




THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).           439
cavalry, and debouched through the woods beyond Brandy Station,
while the enemy was still between that place and the Rappahannock
River, occupying an elevation. Our artillery promptly opened,
the rebels replying vigorously, but without effect. Meanwhile,
Jones' rebel brigade hastily formed to receive our advance, but
almost before they knew it the First New Jersey had charged upon
and among them.  So impetuous was the assault, that without
even an attempt to charge, the rebel line broke in confusion; and
driving them back pell-mell, the regiment pressed upon their rear,
and then, with one hundred and fifty prisoners, rallied and re-formed
for the greater work before them. Leaving the First Pennsylvania
to support his battery, Wyndham at once ordered the New Jersey
Regiment to charge, and with Lieutenant-Colonel Broderick at its
head, and in column of battalions, it again advanced with a steady
trot against the enemy. Without a pause, Hobensack led the left
squadron of the first line down the steep bank of tle railroad
cutting and up the other side, a steep descent and rise of nine
feet either way, taken by the whole body without a waver or
moment's hesitation.   While the right squadrons of the other
battalions followed Broderick against Stuart's headquarters, located
on an eminence facing the right of our line, the left wings, under
Lucas and Malsbury, accompanied Hobensack, dashing at a hill on
which stood a battery, about half a mile from the headquarters. So
rapid was the advance of both columns, that the batteries of the
enemy endeavored in vain to get range upon them; while our own
guns, admirably directed by Martin and his officers, played with
terrible effect upon the stationary rebel line.   With a ringing
cheer, Broderick rode up the gentle ascent that led to Stuart's
headquarters, the men gripping hard their sabers, and the horses
taking ravines and ditches in their stride. As the rebels poured
in a random and ineffectual volley, the troopers of the First Jersey
were among them, riding over one gun, breaking to pieces the
brigade in front of them, and forcing the enemy in confusion down
the opposite slope of the hill.  Stuart's headquarters were in our
hands, and his favorite regiments in flight before the sabers of our
troops.  By the same orderly who carried off Stuart's official




440            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
papers, Wyndham ordered up a section of his battery, and the
regiment of Pennsylvanians-the latter, leaving the artillery to the
support of the First Maryland, moving at once to the attack, just
as a fresh brigade of rebels charged the hundred men of Broder
ick. But that gallant officer did not shrink. As the enemy advanced, down against him rode our men-Broderick and his Adjutant in front; Hart, Wynkoop, Cox, Jamison, Harper, Sawyer,
Brooks and Hughes all in their places, leading their respective men.
With a crash, in went the little band of Jerseymen, sweeping
through the leading rebel regiment-the impetus of the attack
scattering the faltering enemy in confusion, right and left. Then
through the proud Twelfth Virginia they rode on, with no check to
their headlong onset; and, with dripping sabers and panting steeds,
emerged into the field beyond. There, no longer in line of battle,
but fighting hand-to-hand with small parties of the enemy, they
met a thjrd regiment of the rebels, firm  and unshaken, eager
to rush upon the scattered groups of the assailants.  But even
in this emergency, the confidence of the men in their leaders
was not shaken.  Against that swarm  of opposers each individual officer opposed himself with such men as gathered around
him, and slowly fighting, breaking the enemy with themselves into
bands of independent combatants, the First New Jersey fell back
up the bloody hillside, Not a man was there who had not his
own story of the fight to tell. Kitchen, left alone for a moment,
was ridden at by two of the rebels.  As one was disabled by
his saber, he spurred his horse against the other. But just at that
moment, a ball penetrated the brain of the faithful animal, and
throwing his rider twenty feet beyond him, he plunged headlong
to the earth.  Trembling from  the fall, the Adjutant slowly recovered his senses, but only to see another rebel riding upon him.
Creeping behind the body of his dead horse, he rested his revolver
on the carcass to give steadiness to the aim, and frightening off his
enemy, managed to escape to the neighborhood of the guns, and
catch a riderless horse to carry him from the field. In the middle
of the fight, Broderick's horse fell dead beneath him.  Instantly
his young orderly, (bugler,) James Wood, sprang to the earth and




THE SIXTEENTH REGiMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).    441
re-mounted him-seeking himself for another horse. As he did so
he was captured.  Moving to the rear, he came upon a carbine
lying upon the ground. Seizing it and leveling it at his captor, he
forced the man to change places with him, and thus, with an empty
weapon, re-possessed himself of arms and equipments, together
with a prisoner.  Jamison, on foot and alone, was chased around a
house upon the hill, when he saw Broderick again unhorsed in the
midst of a crowd of rebels, and Sawyer riding to his rescue. At
the moment when Jamison was giving himself up for lost, he saw
his pursuers stop, wheel and hurry away, and running himself
around the corner, he beheld Taylor, sword in hand, leading the
charge of the Pennsylvanians.  Around the base of the hill, the
sturdy regiment swept resistlessly on, driving the enemy before it;
and making a complete circuit of the position, returned again
towards Brandy Station.
In the meantime, the left wing of the regiment had directed its
efforts against the other battery of the rebels. Keeping to the trot,
their unbroken ranks moved steadily against the hill, on whose
summit stood the cannoneers and a few horsemen observing their
approach. As they came nearer, all these men disappeared except
one, who maintained his position, and who, as they came within
two hundred yards of the summit, lifted his hat, beckoning with it
to those in the rear. In one moment the whole hillside was black
with rebel cavalry charging down as foragers, pistol and carbine in
hand. HIobensack glanced along his squadron. Not a man was
out of place, and every horse was taking the gallop without a
blunder or over-rush of speed. At the sight of this united band
of enemies, the confused rebel crowd hesitated and shook. With
an ill-directed, futile volley they began to break away; and the
next moment, a shrieking mass of fugitives, they were flying before
the sabers of our men.  The rebel battery of four guns was left
with but two men near it, and with their eyes fixed upon it our
officers pressed upon the fugitives. When within a hundred yards
of the guns, and while looking over the hill, Lucas could see yet
another brigade coming in the distance to reinforce the broken
enemy; an ejeculation from Hobensack caused him to turn his eye
56




442           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
to his own rear. There was the main body of the force that had
broken the right wing, coming in line of battle full upon their rear.
" Fours left about wheel," was the instant order. " Boys, there's a
good many of them, but we must cut through.  Charge!" and
obliquely against their line rushed down the Jersey troopers.
Enthusiasm and desperation supplied the place of numbers, and
cutting their way out, the little band opened a path towards the
section of our battery. Three times was the guidon of Company
E taken by the enemy. Twice it was re-taken by our men, and the
third time, when all seemed desperate, a little troop of the First
Pennsylvania cut through the enemy and brought off the flag in
safety.  Once the rebels who hung upon the rear attempted to
charge our retiring men; but the wheel of the rear division sufficed
to check their assault, and the left wing of the New Jersey reached
Clark's two guns, annoyed only by the revolvers of the rebels.
Under cover of the fire of the artillery, and assisted by the
charge of the Pennsylvanians, Hart had succeeded in bringing off
the remnant of the right wing. He was the senior officer of that
half of the regiment.  Broderick was dying in the enemy's hands.
Shelmire lay dead across the body of a rebel. Sawyer and Hyde
Crocker were prisoners. Lieutenant Brooks was disabled by a
saber stroke on his right arm. Wyndham himself had just received
a bullet in his leg. Men and horses had been fighting for over
three hours, and were now utterly exhausted. Duffie was in line
of battle two miles and a half in the rear, but there was no support upon the field. Kilpatrick's Brigade, which had charged on
the right and rear of the New Jersey, had beaten the rebels opposite it, the First Maine bearing off a battle-flag; but it was now
formed on the flank some distance from the field, to cover the New
Jersey from being entirely cut off. The enemy was, indeed, terribly
demoralized, and the charge of a dozen of our men again and
again routed a hundred of the rebels; but now there were not a
dozen horses that could charge, not a man who could shout above
a whisper.  The guns were across a ditch which rendered their
removal very difficult, and it was their fire which kept the rebels
from crossing the hills to charge against us. So with a desperate




THI SIXTEENTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).           443
hope that Duffie might come up after all, the worn-out troopers
stood by the gallant cannoneers of the Sixth New York Independent Battery-New  Yorkers by commission but Jerseymren of
Rahway in their origin.
Presently the apprehended moment came, and the last reserves of
the rebels, fresh and strong, poured down on three sides upon
the exhausted little knot of New  Jersey troopers. While the
cavalry fought hand to hand across the guns, the artillerymen continued steadily serving their pieces and delivering their fire at the
enemy upon the hill. At length, from  mere exhaustion, Hart,
ilobensack and Beekman, with their comrades, were forced back a
little way from the guns; and while they were forming the men
afresh the rebels rode again upon the cannoneers.  As one of the
gunners was ramming home a charge, a rebel officer cut him down
with three successive saber strokes; then springing from his horse,
he wheeled the piece towards our troopers, not fifty yards away.
Hobensack turned to Hart, stretched out his hand and said: " We
must shut our eyes and take it; good-by;" and clasping each
other's hands they waited for their death. The roar of the piece
thundered out, and the smoke wrapped them in its folds, but the
charge flew harmlessly over their heads. The piece had been elevated against the hill, and the rebels had not thought of changing
its angle. They were so savage at the harmlessness of the discharge that they actually advanced half way towards our men; but
beyond that they dared not come; and the New Jersey regiment
marched calmly off the field without an effort being made to pursue
them. No other comment can be needed to exhibit the impression
made by them upon the rebels. If there had been five hundred
fresh men upon the field, they might have swept the whole rebel
force into the Rappahannock River.
It would be a mere repetition of the same thing with respect to
every officer and man to speak of instances of gallantry. There
was scarcely an officer present with the regiment who did not
acquire distinction; and the enlisted men who have been mentioned
were not exceptions to the average behavior, but happened to be
connected with particular crises of the combat. Thus when it is




444            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
recorded that Sergeant Craig killed four of the enemy in single
fight, it is not pretended that others did not do as much; but his
actions happened to come under the observation of commanders
who reported it; and when it is stated that Captains Lucas and
Malsbury, with Lieutenants Beekman and Hobensack, charged
once with eleven men into a crowd of the enemy from which they
emerged with only three, the historian does not desire to intimate
that they were more closely engaged than others of the officers.
When the records do not do justice to all it is no reason why some
names should not be mentioned with the credit they deserve. It is
enough to say in illustration of the severity of the engagement,
that out of thirty-nine horses in the second squadron twenty-seven
were left on the field; and that of two hundred and eighty officers
and men in the regiment, six officers and over fifty men were killed,
wounded and missing. Of the three senior officers on the field,
Wyndham received a ball in his leg which unfitted him for months
for active service; and Broderick and Shelmire never came off the
field alive. As is frequently the case in cavalry combats, but
little quarter was asked or given. Men fought as long as they
could and then fell beneath the saber or the pistol, the loss of the
enemy almost doubling that of the National troopers.
Lieutenant-Colonel Virgil Broderick was in the prime of health,
strength, intelligence and ambition, when at the age of thirty-five
he fell at Brandy Station.  A plain, practical education had developed his naturally vigorous intellect, and without elaborate refinement of mental culture, had trained him in habits of thought and
observation. Lacking somewhat in rigidity of discipline and tactical knowledge, he supplied their place in time of action by a contagious enthusiasm and a quick perception of advantages; and
thus, though frequently deficient as a camp commander, he was
never found wanting on the field.  When he regarded a man as
worthy of his confidence or affection, he bestowed on him a fullness
of reliance corresponding to his own steadfastness of character;
but when he had found any one false or weak, he was apt to withdraw too entirely his esteem  and charity.  This was his own
judgment upon himself, and a fault which he often desired to cor



THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).                   445
rect-his own efforts at self-improvement thus sometimes puzzling
others as to his consistency.
Very different was the other field officer who fell on that day.
A  plain Pennsylvania farmer, with daughters married and fullgrown sons, Major Stelmire had marched to the field at the head of
a company of his neighbors.  The fact that he was accepted as
leader by men who had associated with him  for years, is in itself
a testimony that he had deserved and obtained their respect and
confidence.  From  the very first, his standing in the regiment corresponded to his position at home. The steadiness and integrity of
his character, the sterling worth of the man, had supplied the place
of that military  bearing and knowledge which  come slowly  to
those of middle age.  What he learned became part of himself,
and whatever he had to do was done well and thoroughly, though
his regard for the substance made him  often too regardless of the
form.  The weight of his personal character made him, in his
company and in the regiment, the center and support of those who
preferred the faithful and quiet performance of duty to the restless
ambition after distinction. His religion was of a character akin
to his other traits: it was a part of his daily life, rather than something outside of or above it. Faithful to his God as to his country,
it is by his deeds-not by any remembered words-that his fidelity
is assured.  His death was as unostentatious as his life.  No one
beyond his immediate command marked him in the action, and no
one saw him  when he fell.  Heading his battalion bravely he penetrated the ranks of the enemy.  When the rebels closed around
him he took no backward step. That he did his duty to the end,
is only proved by the position of his corpse lying surrounded by the
dead, across the body of a foe.5
5 The following is Major Janeway's report of this battle, as made to the State authoritie3:
"The regiment has been engaged in another very severe cavalry fight. On the 8th
inst., the division broke camp at Warrenton Junction and marched to Kelley's Ford,
where we bivouacked for the night. The next day, (the 9th,) at five o'clock, a. m.,
we crossed the river and moved on Brandy Station. As is usual in times of danger
we were in the advance. Meanwhile, General Buford was fighting hard opposite Rappahannock Station. The object of our movement was to turn the right flank of the
rebels. Colonel Wyndham was in command of the Second Brigade-composed of the




446               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
A  detail of the splendid  achievements  of the  cavalry  of the
Army of the Potomac during the latter days of June, belongs to a
chronicle of wider scope than this; for the First New Jersey Cavalry
was called to take but a very subordinate share in the fighting, and
was only under fire while covering the rear, when the  corps was
commanded to retire.
VII-GETTYSBURG.
On Saturday, the 27th of June, the Cavalry Corps, having performed the work assigned it, started on its march to join the other
corps of the army on the field of Gettysburg. Crossing the Potomac at Edward's Ferry, the First Jersey took the road to Frederick,
thence passing swiftly forward until, on the 2d of July, it deFirst New Jersey, First Michigan and First Pennsylvania Cavalry-and the command
of our regiment devolved upon Lieutenant-Colonel Broderick. Captain York, of Company I, had the advance-guard, composed of Companies C and I-he moved his men so
carefully that he captured every vidette on the road, so that the first intimation the
enemy had of our being in their rear was by seeing the head of our column debouch
from the woods.
" Colonel Wyndham moved his troops with such celerity that we were upon them
almost before they were aware of our vicinity. The fight lasted four hours, and was
a continual succession of the most brilliant charges ever made. Every officer acted
with the utmost bravery and coolness, and it is impossible for men to behave better
than did ours-they proved themselves well worthy of the State from which they
came, and more cannot be said in their praise.
" Lieutenant-Colonel Broderick and Major Shelmire were both wounded and taken
prisoners while leading one of the numerous charges. Accounts of the nature of their
capture are so conflicting, that I defer sending any statement regarding it till I learn
something definite; but that they both behaved with the greatest daring and gallantry
there can be no question.
" Captain Sawyer, Company K, and Lieutenant Brocker, Company H, are also prisoners, but not thought to be wounded. Captain Lucas, Company F, Captain Maulsbury and Adjutant Kitchen, while in the thickest ot the fight, had their horses shot
under them; that of Adjutant Kitchen fell dead, carrying him along with it. His
escape seems almost miraculous. When the order was given to retire our regiment
covered the rear. I am told that General Gregg expressed the greatest satisfaction at
the conduct of the regiment. Towards the close of the engagement Colonel Wyndham
received a bullet-wound in the calf ot the leg, but we are thankful to know that it will
not prove dangerous; he kept the field for some time after being hit, but was finally
obliged to give up. He also paid the regiment the highest compliments for its steady
and dashing charges. The fight was hand to hand throughout. We had in the engagcment four field officers, fourteen line officers and two hundred and eighty-one enlisted
men. Our loss in killed, wounded and missing is at present three field officers, two
line officers and fifty-two enlisted men. This of itself speaks volumes for the bravery
of our regiment. The morale of the regiment has been greatly benefitted by yesterday's work, and I am confident that the men will fight better now than ever.
" HUGH H. JAxNEWA, Major Commanding."




THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).          447
bouched upon the field where battle had already been joined, going
into position, dismounted, on the extreme right of our line. During the afternoon, an assault was made upon its position, but was
easily repulsed, and at night the cavalry brigade fell back upon the
Baltimore pike to bivouac until the morrow. On the 3d, in the
dispositions for the decisive battle, Gregg with his division, and
Custer's Brigade of Kilpatrick's was entrusted with the defense of
the right flank of our army; and bravely was that important duty
performed. As the battle opened, the First Jersey was advanced
from the very rear, some two miles to the front, arriving just in
time to see the dense column of the rebel cavalry pouring upon our
flank. Leaping from their horses, forming line as they touched the
ground, and starting at once into a run, in the very face of the
enemy, the First Jersey dashed at the nearest cover, where, supported only by a squadron of their own little regiment, they prepared to check the progress of the entire force arrayed against
them. And they did it, and more, even driving back the assailing
columns. Sent forward as a forlorn hope, to give time for the rest
of the division to come up with unblown horses, this little band of
one hundred and fifty men, by their undaunted bearing and their
steady fire, staggered the troops that by a single charge could have
ridden over them. Refusing to dismount in spite of the storm of
bullets constantly whistling over our men, Janeway rode from end
to end of his line of skirmishers, encouraging, warning and directing its every portion-showing here as on many another field a
coolness and bravery that made him a marked man among men.
Advancing from point to point, heralding each charge by a cheer
which shook the enemy worse than the bullets of their carbines,
for more than a hundred yards the First Jersey pushed their little
line; and at last, with ammunition exhausted, they still held their
ground, facing the rebels with theirrevolvers. Then Jansway rode
back to the reserve, and reported to Major Beaumont the condition
of his men, requesting ammunition and reinforcement. At Major
Beaumont's request, Colonel McIntosh, commanding the brigade,
ordered another regiment to take the place of the First Jersey. That
regiment halted a hundred yards to the rear of the line where the




448            NEiW JERSEY AND THE REBfELLION.
Jerseymen were stationed, and would not advance any further,
while the latter resisted every effort to move them back. Presently,
Colonel McIntosh rode up to Major Beaumont, saying, "Major,
where is your regiment?"  "On the skirmish line, sir."  "But I
ordered them to be relieved."  "The other regiment cannot be got
to relieve them."' I will see about that," said the Colonel; "recall your men."  "I have re-called them," replied the Major, " and
they won't come."  Even Colonel McIntosh failed to get the relieving regiment up through the tremendous fire to the position of the
First Jersey; old soldiers as they were, they could not calmly face
it. At length, however, the Third Pennsylvania came upon the
line, and the First Jersey was at liberty to retire from the action.
But no! They sought every method to avoid falling back. Borrowing ammunition from the Pennsylvanians, they kept their boldlywon position, and cheering like mad, defied the efforts of the enemy
-only a handful retiring, casting reluctant looks behind as they
went.  And now the rebels essayed to charge and turn the position
which they could not take in front, but each assault was repulsed,
the fine old First Michigan Cavalry charging straight into their
ranks and putting them ingloriously to flight. By this time, the
grand attack of Longstreet had been made and repulsed, and all
that remained was for the cavalry to sweep away the rebel horse
from our flank.  With charge after charge they were beaten from
the ground —the Third Pennsylvania, making one magnificent dash
upon a greatly-outnumbering body of the enemy. Newhall, the
Adjutant-General of the brigade, and five officers of a single
squadron, fell beneath the saber and the pistol, but the enemy was
cut to pieces; and with cheers of triumph, the cavalry of Gregg
saw Stuart's battalions gallop in rout to the protection of their
artillery.
But the First New Jersey had work still to do. Guarding the line
and picketing far to the front, they watched through the night
upon the bloody ground, until the welcome light of the birthday
of the nation permitted them to seek a brief season of repose.
At five o'clock on the afternoon of the day, the cavalry was
again in motion, following up the retreating columns of the enemy.




rHE SIXTEENTH REG]3tMEN~T-(iIRST CAVALRY).    449
And now each day brought its skirmish, each march its batch of
prisoners. On the 5th, in the mountain passes above Emmettsburg, the First New Jersey was sharply and successfully engaged;
and again, on the 6th, it had another contest.  Though again
successful, it lost the services of an officer-Lieutenant Cox receiving an ugly wound.  Captain Boyd had been disabled at Gettysburg, and small as it was, the regiment had scarcely enough officers
left to perform the duty required. On the 14th, having been daily
engaged in arduous duty, the regiment crossed the Potomac at
Harper's Ferry, and finding the Twelfth Virginia Cavalry (rebel)
in possession of the country beyond, the following day advanced
against them, capturing their Colonel.  A day or two after, the
division advanced to Shepherdstown for the purpose of securing
forage, and while there was attacked by the enemy, but the First
New Jersey was not engaged, the First Pennsylvania carrying off
the honors of the day. As the army moved forward again to the
Rappahannock, the cavalry guarded the train of wagons, and
when relieved of this duty, were employed in alternate scouting
and picket-duty on both sides of the Rappahannock, in the neighborhood of Warrenton, until the middle of September, when it
moved to the rear to guard the railroad, the First New Jersey
being posted at Bristow Station.  Here it remained until the 4th of
October, when it was transferred to Hartwood Church near Falmouth.
VIII-SULPHUR SPRINGS AND BRISTOW  STATION.
On the 10th of October, the cavalry division was ordered to
move towards Kelley's Ford, and arriving there the following day,
immediately crossed and pushed on towards Brandy Station. There
it was learned that General Meade, having detected an attempt of
Lee to steal along his flank and cut him off from Washington, was
retreating; and that while Buford held the rear, checking the operations of the rebel cavalry, Gregg was to take the ground around
Warrenton, White Sulphur Springs, and guard the flank especially
threatened by the enemy.  The Second Brigade was accordingly
placed in the vicinity of Jefferson, on the south side of the river,
57




450           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
while the First picketted and scouted around the town of Warrenton itself-the First New Jersey, now numbering three hundred
and sixty effective men, being allowed to remain in reserve, at rest,
with the exception of one squadron. Early on the afternoon of
the 12th, the enemy appeared in strong force in front of the Second
Brigade, which soon became hotly engaged, but was unable to
prevent the advance of Ewell's Corps marching around its left
flank, thus cutting it off from the river. The situation thus growing critical, the First Brigade was hurriedly ordered up-the First
New Jersey instantly moving to the scene of action, accompanied
by one section of Martin's horse artillery. At this moment it was
discovered that the command was very short of serviceable ammunition, late severe rains having rendered useless the supply received,
but from the stock of other regiments enough was hastily procured
to supply two squadrons with ten rounds apiece, and with this
scant supply the regiment dashed forward to the front. As he
approached the Springs, Janeway detached Captain Hart with the
first squadron, as an advance guard, with orders to diverge to the
right as he approached the river. As, in obedience to these directions, he emerged from the woods above the Springs, he was suddenly attacked by the rebel forces who had crossed the bridge and
were advancing rapidly up the road. Promptly taking position in
the woods a little higher up the river, Hart checked the attempted
movement of the enemy in that direction, at the same time rescuing
a number of stragglers who had been cut off and were endeavoring
to escape. Informed that this brave officer had thus occupied the
position directed, Janeway at once ordered Major Lucas to take forward the fourth squadron as skirmishers, meanwhile forming, under
his own eye the other squadrons under cover of the wood. Almost
before Lucas could form his men, the rebels came charging into the
wood, but delivering fire as well as the circumstances permitted, he
charged them in turn, driving them over half a mile, completely
into the shelter of the trees and buildings around the Springs,
when, deploying his skirmishers, he deliberately fell back within
supporting distance of the regiment. Emboldened by this movement, the rebels again charged forth from their cover, to be met




THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).           451
boldly as before, Janeway sending in the fifth squadron under
Kinsley, Craig and Hughes, before whom the enemy again retired,
closely pressed by our troopers.  Meanwhile, Captain Gray had
been dispatched with the third squadron to the extreme right to
hold the ground between Hart and the river. Still the fight continued, and the situation every moment grew more critical. Captain Malsbury, who had been sent on picket with the sixth squadron, was still absent, and Janeway was thus left with only the
second squadron as a reserve, while the whole of Ewell's Corps of
infantry was before him. At this time, Colonel Taylor, commanding the brigade, hesitating to compel a single regiment to continue
such an unequal fight, sent a message to Janeway, directing him to
fall back slowly; but the Major replied, that " to fall back would expose our weakness and ensure our destruction by the overwhelming
force of the enemy," and asked permission to hold his ground until
dark, which, being granted, he once more addressed himself to the
arduous task before him. It was, indeed, a difficult work, and the
hour one of great anxiety.  Major Lucas had already sent word
that the enemy was deploying against him a formidable line of
infantry; that the rebel cavalry was strengthening every minute;
that many of his men had exhausted their ammunition, and that
the next attack would certainly force him back. Yet, Janeway
had but a single squadron left, the advance of which would leave
him bare of all support. But, fortunately, at this moment, Malsbury appeared, forming his squadron as he came. Then, just as
the rebel fire grew more rapid and intense, Janeway led Robbins'
squadron into and through the woods, meeting the rebel charge
while Lucas, under cover of their advance withdrew those of his
men who had expended their ammunition, and began to form them
on the flank of Malsbury.
Now, as the day waned, the fighting grew fiercer than before.
Scarcely had Malsbury taken the place of Robbins, when Hick,
the junior Captain of the squadron, received a ball in his leg, which
forced him to leave the field, and the missiles of the enemy, penetrating the thin wood which screened the reserve, fell around them
even more thickly than they did in the front. In the early twi



452             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
light, the enemy succeeded at last in getting a force around upon
the flank, and, turning the right of Captain Gray, drove him  and
his men, fighting as they went, across a ravine, back to the point
where Lucas was rallying his men. Thus through the trees upon
this flank a cross-fire was now  opened, and not without effectLucas falling dead with a ball in his brain. But the work of death
was not yet done.  Gray, taking the place of Lucas, his Lieutenants, Corriell and Rodgers, with such men as had been rallied and
supplied with a round or two of ball, dashed into the wood to the
assistance of the little force still struggling there.  Though Rodgers
was soon wounded, and McKinstry, Lane, Craig, Cause, Dye and
Hughes had their horses shot beneath them, still they all staunchly
stood their ground with Janeway, Robbins and the rest.  Until the
last gleam of light had faded from the sky, the stubborn Jerseymen
held the wood against the enemy, and even then, after every cartridge for carbine and revolver had been expended, and when the
rebels had slowly crept up upon the flank until they were firing on
them from the rear, Robbins and Lieutenant Cause could only, by
reiterated orders, persuade the second squadron to abandon the
position which they had so long held.
Promptly upon our withdrawal, the rebels made an effort to
occupy the wood and to debouch through it into the road to pursue
our men; but the reserve which Janeway had persisted in retaining
unbroken, in spite of every apparent crisis, now justified the wisdom
of his action. Galled for hours by a fire which it had been unable
to return, it now  opened upon the advancing enemy with such
vindictive energy as to force him back behind the cover, incapable
of another movement to the front.6  Falling back to the height
beyond, Malsbury again drew  up his men, prepared to resist any
attempt of the rebels; but the column moved off the field without
6 " It was now after sunset, and our skirmishers had been for a long time warmly
engaged with the skirmishers of the rebel infantry. Perceiving that there was serious
danger to be apprehended upon my flanks, I slowly fell back into the woods, followed
by the rebels. Still contesting the ground, it was not until darkness had thoroughly
set in that I withdrew from -the woods, and allowed the enemy to enter them. They
made an attempt to advance beyond them, but the steady fire of Captain Malsbury's
squadron, though composed largely of recruits, completely frustrated their attempt."
MLajor Janeway's Report.




THE SIXTEENTH  REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).                      453
molestation, and he fell into  his place in the rear without firing
another shot.  For half an hour after the retreat, the ground was
left unoccupied by the enemy, and even then, he advanced against
the deserted position with skirmishers deployed and a long line of
battle formed. In an hour from that time, the whole of Ewell's
Corps was camped upon the field of battle, having been detained
by  the First New Jersey  until it was too late to close upon the
flanks of the Union army.
The First New Jersey came out of this remarkable contest with
the loss, wonderfully small under the circumstances, of four officers
and thirty men; but seven officers and one hundred and thirty
men had their horses killed and wounded, so that the casualties
amounted  to  nearly  one-half of the force engaged.   The only
prisoner lost was Lieutenant Kinsley, who was missing by accident.'
Re-joining the brigade the regiment proceeded to Fayetteville,
in the vicinity of which it encamped for the night. The next day
it was ordered  to  accompany  the division train, which  it did,
escorting it towards Catlett's Station.  On the 14th, orders were
received to re-join the division at Auburn, and the command at
once started for that place. Shortly after passing the headquarters
of the army, it ran into the pickets of a rebel brigade, driving them
into the advance of the Second Corps, by whom  they were cap7 The following is an extract from Major Janeway's report:'' Captain Hick, of Company L, was wounded in the thigh almost immediately on
reaching the scene of action. Lieutenant Rodgers, of Company C, while gallantly
fighting in the front, received a ball through his arm. Lieutenant Kinsley, of Company F, commanding Company H, was shot in his shoulder and completely disabled,
as the fight was concluding, and in the darkness his fall was unnoticed. Lieutenants
McKinstry (Adjutant), Jamison, Lane, Craig, Hughes and Dye, had their horses shot
under them. The valuable services rendered by the squadron commanders have been
mentioned in the body of the report, and every officer in the regiment so gallantly
performed his duty that it is impossible to single out any for special commendation.
Chaplain H. R. Pyne rendered me great assistance by his cool and gallant bearing, and
by aiding to re-form men who had fallen back as their ammunition was exhausted. I
cannot speak too highly of the steadiness and enthusiasm of the enlisted men, among
whom I have yet to learn of an instance of misbehavior or a case of faltering."
Major Janeway's report has the following endorsement:
"This report having been referred to me, I take great pleasure in bringing to your
notice the gallantry of both officers and men of this command. The conduct of Major
Hugh H. Janeway upon three several occasions was commendable in the highest degree, and reflected great credit upon himself and the regiment.
"JOHN W. KESTER, Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding."




454           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
tured.  Waiting until that corps had passed, the regiment proceeded
to re-join the brigade, being ordered to form part of the rear-guard
of the army, still in retreat before the enemy. As the brigade fell
slowly back, Janeway was directed to remain with the First Jersey
to hold a hill from which the column might otherwise be annoyed
by artillery.  Taking command in person of the line of skirmishers, the Major strengthened it by seven companies of his own regiment, turning over the command of the rest to Captain Gray, and
then proceeded to make the best possible disposition of the sixteen
companies placed at his disposal. The enemy, however, beyond
throwing a few shells, made no assault, and the force was finally
withdrawn, proceeding towards Bristow Station, where Heath's
Division of Hill's Corps, having succeeded in marching around us,
had fallen upon the Second Corps. Hurrying his men into position, Janeway held the rebel advance until night, when he proceeded to Brentsville and thence marched with the train to Fairfax
Station, where the men were permitted to rest until the 19th.
Then, the army having again taken up its advance in pursuit of
the now retiring enemy, the cavalry resumed its marched on the
21st, re-occupying the camps which had been left ten days before
the fight at Sulphur Springs. Here Lieutenant-Colonel Kester was
relieved from duty on the staff of General Gregg, and for the first
time assumed command of the regiment which had long been
expecting him.
From this time forward until late in November, the regiment was
employed in picket-duty, once escorting a body of prisoners to
Washington; but being called upon to do no more arduous servicemuch to the satisfaction, probably, of the battle-beaten and exhausted troopers.
IX-ACRoss THE RAPIDAN.
On the 26th of November, General Meade having determined
upon a movement across the Rapidan, Gregg's Division of cavalry
surprised the rebel pickets at Ely's Ford, and throwing itself across
the river, took position on our extreme left, halting for the night
on a narrow bye-road through the Wilderness, leading across from




THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).           405
Culpepper turnpike to the main road from  Fredericksburg to
Richmond.  Sykes' infantry column being on the right, the First
Jersey was placed on picket to connect with his line, but the following morning was advanced to the front, emerging upon the
plank-road from  Fredericksburg to Orange Court House.  The
country traversed was intersected by but very few roads, and was
entirely impracticable except in the woods themselves, thus compelling the troops to move in narrow columns, and delaying the
promptness of necessary evolutions. After some difficulty, however, the column reached a position near Hope Church, but here
they found a body of rebel cavalry who disputed their advance.
All around this position stretched a wilderness of woods, under
cover of which the enemy had posted his infantry, who soon
advanced upon our skirmishers.  The fire growing gradually
sharper, the First Jersey was promptly dismounted, and with the
First Pennsylvania on its left, plunged into the thicket.  Then
with a cheer that rolled all along the line, the men dashed straight
against the enemy, causing his skirmishers to fall back with a loss
of forty prisoners, including several officers.  But the gallant
troopers did not pause with this handsome success. With successive rushes, the line advanced full three-quarters of a mile, the
bullets flying so fiercely that between the charges the men had to
lie close to the ground. At last came a period of desperate struggle. Though every man hugged the earth as closely as he could,
in the short period during which the contest lasted, twenty-seven
officers and men were either killed or so wounded as to disable
them. Jamison was shot through the heart, Gray had his hand
shattered, Lane was almost stunned, and IHobensack was struck
so violently by a piece of shell that for some minutes he was crazed,
All the while the artillery was in full play, the rebels firing at our
guns, and our missiles plunging into their line of battle. At last,
after a vigorous rally on the part of the enemy, our men raised a
cheer that rang far away over the field; and with one tremendous
rush, they swept skirmish-line, battle-line and all before them for a
quarter of a mile, when, the Fifth Corps having come up and
deployed, the fighting cavalrymen were withdrawn without loss.




456               NEW  jERSSEY ANi) THS IEtELLtO.
Few  conflicts of the war were more desperate than  this; and the
men of the First Jersey never fought with grander courage or more
abounding faith in themselves. The loss of the regiment was more
severe than that of any other engaged; and in Lieutenant Jamison
it gave to the country one of the most zealous and efficient officers
in the service.8
The next afternoon, leaving part of the brigade on duty at
Parker's Store, the First Jersey with the rest crossed by a difficult
road to the Wilderness Tavern upon the other plank road to Culpepper, but the enemy moving against the force at that point, the
regiment on the following day returned to the menaced point, but
without becoming engaged, the rebels having been driven off before
their arrival.  On the 1st of December, our army having  again
commenced a retrograde movement, the cavalry followed  in the
rear, and crossing the Rapidan and Rappahannock, some days after
The following is the official report of this engagement, as made to the Governor of
the State:
"I have the honor to submit to your notice the part which the First New Jersey
Cavalry took in the action of Friday, November 27, 1863, in the Wilderness, near
Mountain Run, south of the Rapidan. The position assigned us that day was in the
rear of the First Brigade, the advance of which engaged the enemy's cavalry near Hope
Church, driving him towards Orange Court House; and when near Mountain Run
the enemy withdrew his cavalry and advanced a division of infantry, which brought
our advance to a check. I was then ordered forward with the regiment. As I moved
on to the field, the lines began to waver under a vigorous shelling and a hail of rifleballs from the enemy's infantry. I was ordered to take in my regiment and hold the
ground. I dismounted the whole regiment and pressed forward with a cheer that
sounded above the din of battle, and I was just in time, as I met fragments of broken
regiments falling back; as we passed them they took up the cheer and followed. We
then charged the enemy's infantry, driving him half a mile and capturing thirty-one
prisoners, and holding the ground until relieved by the Fifth Corps of infantry.
"II cannot speak too highly of the gallantry of both officers and men of the command. They did honor to their State and country. It is almost impossible for me to
speak of individual acts of gallantry, as all acted with such bravery as to call forth the
admiration of all who saw them. Captain Robbins, Company G, and Sergeants Michenor and Scott, Company A, were particularly noticed for their activity in securing and
bringing off the field a number of prisoners. Great credit is due to Major Janeway,
Captain Hart and Captain Gray, for the steady manner in which they handled their
battalions, and all honor is due to the brave but unfortunate Jamison, who lived and
died a soldier, and his brave comrades who fell upon that fields nobly contesting for
their country's honor.
" My Adjutant and other members of my staff acted with intrepid zeal, and were of
the utmost importance to me, and I trust that the doings of the regiment may meet
your approval.
"The following is a list of casualties: Killed 9; wounded 18.
" JOHN W. KESTER, Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding New Jersey Cavalry."




THE SIXTEENTH  REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).                    457
went into winter-quarters on familiar ground at Warrenton. During the winter months,9 the men were comfortably housed, but were
not left in idleness.  In addition to arduous picket-duty, many
were employed in scouting,"1 and all were kept in some way employed, until spring at last opened, and Grant prepared to strike
his ponderous blows against the tottering fabric of the rebellion.
X-THE BATTLES OF THE WILDERNESS.
At two o'clock on the morning of the 4th of May, 1864, after a
night of marching and open bivouac, the First Jersey, leading the
column of Gregg's Division, crossed the Rapidan at Ely's Ford,
capturing a portion of the rebel pickets, and taking position,
beyond Chancellorsville, on the road leading to Fredericksburg and
Todd's Tavern, to which place it moved early on the 5th.  Here,
about noon, the Third Cavalry Division having been attacked by
the  enemy  and  given  way, General Gregg drew  up the First
Regiment and ordered a squadron to be sent in to cover the retiring
column and repel the enemy.  Captain  Hart was, accordingly, at
9 On the 1st of January, 1864, Lieutenant-Colonel Kester issued the following:
[Regimental Order, No. 1.]
" HEADQUARTERS FIRST NEW JERSEY CAVALRY, 1
January 21, 1864.   S
" Officers and Soldiers of this Regiment:
"The Lieutenant-Colonel commanding takes this opportunity to thank you in the
name of our country for your undaunted courage, impetuous bravery and patient endurance shown upon so many bloody fields and under circumstances that try men's
souls.
"The commanding officer of the regiment may well feel just cause for being proud
of a command who have never ceased to reflect luster upon our arms, and who through
the many conflicts in which you have been engaged, have always taken a conspicuous
part and called forth the thanks and gratitude of your commanding officers.
"He also thanks the regiment, and more especially those who have re-enlisted, for
their patriotic zeal and firm determination to serve in the army until this unholy rebellion be crushed, when those who survive will look back upon their course with satisfaction and pride, and will have won laurels that will ensure them the homage of a
grateful country to heroes who have taken part in a hundred fiercely-contested fields,
nobly fighting in the defense of their country's honor; and also the thanks of the commanding officer is due to Lieutenant Hobensack for the prompt manner in which he
gave chase and re-captured men captured by guerrillas on the 16th instant.
"By Order,          JOIN W. KESTER, Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding.
"C. McKINSTRY, Adjutant."
10 One of the exploits of the winter is thus detailed in an official report of LieutenantColonel Kester to Governor Parker:
"I have the honor to report that on the 17th instant, (February, 1864,) I was ordered
58




458               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
once advanced, and soon came upon the enemy, rushing down upon
the fugitives and startlingly near to our position.  Without a moment's hesitation, Hart charged into the advancing column, and
then, breaking it in pieces, pushed on through the woods towards
the main body of the rebels, only halting as the supporting column
of the latter came into view.  Then, being joined by Colonel Kester
heading the regiment, the troopers once more advanced, the enemy
again giving ground before the impetuous attack.  Still advancing,
the assailants presently came upon a line of mounted men, who,
rushing out with a cheer, compelled Kester to halt, then turn and
rapidly  retire, followed  by  the  charging  enemy, until Captain
Malsbury, throwing his squadron into line by the side of the road,
met the charge by a close volley from his carbines. At the same
moment the retreating column rallying, once more dashed against
the foe; but now the main body of the latter was moved rapidly
up, and at length  Kester gave way, falling slowly back  until the
supports were reached. Then, once more, his skirmishers wheeled
with one accord, and with a wild cheer the whole body made a
to take three hundred and fifty men, (comprising one hundred and fifty of the First
New Jersey Cavalry, under command of Captain Hart, and two hundred men of the
First Pennsylvania, First Massachusetts and Third Pennsylvania,) and attempt the capture of Mosby's guerrillas. We started from Warrenton at ten o'clock on the evening of the 18th instant, and marched rapidly, it being very cold, to Salem. At that
point, I detached fifty men to meet me at Paris and at Piedmont. I sent Captain Hart
with one hundred and fifty First New Jersey to pass through Piedmont Valley and
join me at Paris in Ashby's Gap, and with one hundred and fifty men I started for Markham Station, in Manassas Gap. The party of fifty men reached Paris without capturing
any guerrillas. The party under Captain Hart passed through Piedmont Valley to Paris
capturing fifteen guerrillas and a large number of horses, arms and equipments. The
party with myself passed through Manassas Gap to Markham, and from that point crossing the mountains to Paris, in Ashby's Gap. We captured thirteen guerrillas and a
large number of horses, arms and equipments, and some medical stores.  It was
twelve o'clock before I reached Paris, at which place I halted one hour to feed. At one
o'clock I started to return. In the meantime the guerrillas had collected to the number
of nearly one hundred, and attempted to capture my rear-guard, which was under the
command of Captain Hart. The enemy charged several times, but was repulsed with
loss. The casualties on our side were, Captain IHart wounded, and two horses killed.
Captain Hart was wounded at Upperville, and traveled with the column to Warrenton
without complaint, a distance of twenty-six miles. The distance marched by us was
seventy-four miles in twenty-two hours. Great credit is due to Capt. Hart; also to
Lieutenant Lame, Dye and Cause."
Major-General Pleasanton, in a General Order, dated February 20th, " commends the
zeal and activity displayed by Lieutenant-Colonel Kester, and the officers and men of
his command, in the late scout, in which twenty-eight of Mosby's guerrillas, and fifty
arms, horses, &c., were captured."




THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).           459
simultaneous and resistless charge. Without a halt or check they
swept on over the ground once occupied, over the rude barricade,
behind which had been planted the artillery now in rapid retreat,
through woods and over fields, until at last the rebels hurried across
the Po and made the line of that river their defense. The ground
was ours, and the position saved.  Then, the grand work being
fully accomplished, Captain Hart inquired for the Regimental Surgeon, and it was learned that a bullet had passed through his thigh
early in the engagement. Fearing that he might not be permitted
to share in the glory of the fight, if the fact that he was hurt
should be known, he had with shut lips remained in the saddle,
doing his duty to the last, and now only, when the day was won,
sought relief for his injuries. The entire loss of the regiment in
this brilliant affair was six men killed, and two officers and fortyone men wounded.
During the following day, the First New Jersey was not engaged, but on the 7th, the whole of the rebel cavalry having been
thrown across the Po, the hostile forces became fiercely engagedHobensack having the honor of receiving the first attack of the
enemy. Gaininig, however, an important position, he succeeded
in holding it until relieved by the First Pennsylvania, when, all
the available forces uniting in a charge of the Sixth Ohio, which
had also come up, the rebels were swept clear out of a line of
breastworls which they had expended a day and night in constructing, and that part of the field was our own. Meanwhile, to
the right of this front, the First and Second Cavalry Divisions
were meeting the massed forces of the enemy; but the latter were
no match for these veteran soldiers, ayid here, too, the field was
won, the enemy losing some five hundred wounded, while the
number of killed was correspondingly large. After this disastrous
failure, he did not care to renew the contest, and the Union cavalry
had done its last fighting in the Wilderness.
XI-SHERIDAN'S RAID TO RICHMOND.
On the 9th of May, separating temporarily from the Army of
the Potomac, the whole cavalry corps moved south in the direction




460            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
of Richmond, the First New Jersey having the rear of the column.
Lee, supposing that the force consisted of but a couple of brigades
on a marauding expedition, had detached a corresponding body to
cut off the retreat; and while Stuart, with a large force of cavalry,
tried to gain our front, this body, under Wickham and Lennox,
attempted to strike our rear, their skirmishers exchanging flying
shots with our line of flankers, but not venturing an attack until
towards evening. This, however, was repulsed, as was also an
assault upon Captain Robbins, who had been sent out to picket a
cross-road, though Lennox continued to annoy the column until
silenced by our artillery. It was by this time very dark, and the
rest of the corps going into camp, the First New Jersey and First
Massachusetts barricaded the road, after which they also sought a
hurried rest. Early on the morrow, the rebels again assaulted our
line, but were held in check by the First New Jersey, and the
whole force crossed the North Anna.  Thence, the First Division
advanced towards Hanover Junction, while the Second moved
directly to the South Anna, which it crossed unmolested and halted
for the night, starting the next morning to perform its share in the
work of destruction.  General Davies, with the First Brigade,
pushed across to Ashland Station and Court House, where, while
the First Massachusetts, after destroying the public buildings and
storehouses, fought hotly with the enemy, the rest of the brigade
occupied themselves with the destruction of miles of railroad.
Then, hurrying back by narrow and tortuous, woodland roads, the
command came out upon the Mountain turnpike, where it rejoined the corps. From this time forward, the First New Jersey,
while participating otherwise in all the fatigues and hardships of
this memorable " raid," was not engaged with the enemy.  Re-joining the army on the 25th, it encamped in its rear, and for one night
slept soundly under the friendly shelter of its own tents.
XI-TURNING LEE'S RIGHT.
But its season of repose was brief.  On the 26th it was moved down
to the Pamunkey on a reconnoissance, and during the early hours
of the following morning crossed at Hanover Town, with the First




THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).           461
and Second Cavalry Divisions, supported by a part of the Sixth
Corps-advancing upon Lee's right wing. On the 28th, having advanced several miles on the direct road to Richmond, Gregg took
up a position near Hawes' Shop, to cover the crossing and movements of our infantry. Here, during the day, he was fiercely
attacked by the enemy, and the First Jersey once more became
engaged. One company being sent on each flank, mounted, Captain
Robbins with four companies, dismounted, moved forward  and
occupied a position on the right of the road, opening a rapid fire
from their carbines on the line of the enemy which was forming
for attack. The remainder of the regiment was moved to the left
of the road, and having been dismounted, was ordered to the support of the First Pennsylvania, which was hotly engaged. Robbins,
as usual, moved with a rush to the assault, and soon cleared his
immediate front of the rebels, chasing them across the open ground
beyond the wood in which they had taken cover. In this field
there was a double ditch, lined by fencing, with another of the
same character facing it, only forty or fifty paces distant.  As
Captain Beekman, heading his men, sprang across the first fence,
at charging speed, they were met by a desperate volley from the
second line of the rebels lying in the other cover. Instinctively,
as they saw the flash, the men threw themselves upon the ground,
and now Beekman, rolling into the ditch, called his troops there
beside him. From the two covers there was kept up a tremendous
fire-our men sometimes charging towards the hostile ditch, but in
each case falling back, and the fight going on, both parties holding
their own, but neither gaining ground upon the other. Meanwhile,
Captain Robbins, on the right of the road, was being sorely pressed.
Major Janeway was sent with two squadrons to his relief and the
fight re-doubled in intensity. The ammunition of the men giving
out, a supply was brought from the rear and distributed along the
line itself by the officers, several of whom fell while engaged in
the service. Captain Beekman was shot through'both hands as he
stretched them forth full of ammunition. Lieutenant Bellis was
almost at the same moment mortally wounded, as was also Lieutenant Stewart. Captain Robbins was wounded severely in the




462           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
shoulder, Lieutenant Shaw severely in the head, Lieutenant Wynkoop fearfully in the foot. Lieutenant Bowne was the only officer
of the first battalion on the field who was untouched, and he had
several narrow escapes. Major Janeway also had a narrow escape,
a ball passing so close to his forehead as to redden the skin. As
Lieutenant Brooks was manceuvering the fifth squadron under
fire, a ball fired close at hand struck him near his belt clasp,
slightly penetrating the skin in two places, and, doubling him
up, sent him rolling headlong for thirty feet across the road. As
he recovered steadiness, he saw his whole squadron hurrying to
pick him up, and, in the excitement, losing all sensation of pain,
he ordered them again forward, and walked after them half-way to
the front. There, he was obliged to drop upon the ground, and
was carried from the field. Lieutenant Craig also, of the same
squadron, was badly bruised by some missile that struck him in
the breast, but, though suffering severely from the blow, did not
leave the field. Still the men bravely held their own. And now,
Custer coming up with his Michigan Brigade, charged down the
road-the whole body of the First Jersey skirmishers simultaneously springing from their cover and dashing upon the enemy, sweeping him from the field and pursuing him until the whole mass
had melted into disordered rout.
Meanwhile the fighting on the left of the road had been of the
severest character. Malsbury received a mortal wound; Dye was
killed instantly; Cox was hit in the back, but remained the only
officer with the squadron till, towards the close of the action, he
received a wound which disabled him. The total loss of the nine
companies of the First New Jersey engaged, in killed and wounded
was sixty-four, eleven being officers. The total loss of the division
was two hundred and five.
The effort to check our advance had been vain. By the time
that the cavalry engagement was ended, Grant had joined Sheridan
on the field, and'Meade was moving upon Old Church and Shady
Grove. The flank movement had proved an entire success.
For a day Gregg's Division was at rest. Then it was moved forward to picket Warren's left near Shady Grove, being afterwards




THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENTT-~(FIRST CAVALRY).          468
withdrawn to the left and rear, whence, on the 1st of June, it
moved around the rebel right, marching to Bottom Bridge, and
there picketing up and down the Chickahominy at every ford and
crossing.' On the 6th, being relieved by the Third Division, the
rest of the cavalry marched to the rear, pausing at Newcastle, on the
Pamunkey, whence, on the morrow, it again started on a perilous
adventure.
XII-ANOTHER "RAIDD."
On the 7th of June, the First and Second Cavalry Divisions,
leaving Newcastle, pushed rapidly towards Trevillian's Station, nine
miles from Gordonsville, where, on the evening of the 10th, the
enemy was attacked with great violence and driven out with serious loss-General Custer, meanwhile, with his command, defeating
the rebels at Louisa Court House, and capturing a supply and
ammunition train, together with fifteen hundred horses. The rebel
Hampton, however, soon after succeeded in recovering this prize,
surrounding Custer on all sides, but the gallant Michigan men heroically fought their way out, a fortunate diversion in another direction-by distracting the rebel attention —materially assisting their
escape. The First New Jersey had not been engaged in the action,
but were sent to scout and picket a road leading off to our right
around the enemy's position. Kester having advanced his main
body as far as he thought advisable, well around to the left flank of
Hampton, sent forward Major Janeway with the third squadron to
examine the country more particularly in front. That officer, dispersing the rebel pickets, arranged his men for an advance in pursuit, and still pushing on, soon came upon a section of artillery
supported by the Fifth Georgia Cavalry mounted, and the Ninth
South Carolina dismounted. At once charging upon the line, the
whole mounted force of the rebels broke and ran. The guns, however, were still served, and the Carolinians covering themselves by
some houses and fences, opened with small arms upon our troopers.
I-Iad there been no obstructions, or had there been another battalion
to follow up the charge, the guns and the dismounted men could
have been taken; but as it was, the Major saw that further advance




464           NtW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
would be useless, and withdrew his men undisturbed by any pursuit. Lieutenant Craig was wounded in the ankle, Sergeant Cook,
of Company K, was killed, Michael Gallagher, of the same company,
was too severely wounded to be carried off, though he was afterwards
recovered.  With these, and two other casualties, this force of a
hundred men had engaged two regiments and a section of artillery,
and had so surprised the rebels in front, that Custer got through
without further fighting, and the whole rebel line withdrew from
its position.
On the 13th, having accomplished its object in the destruction
of the railway and other property, the cavalry withdrew from the
Station, and proceeded to White House, whence it guarded the
passage of a wagon train to and across the James River, the First
New Jersey being employed in picketing the rear, and afterwards
in covering the retiring train to Charles City Court House. On the
27th of June, the most of the wagons having been transp.orted
across the river, the First Brigade of Gregg was transferred to the
neighborhood of Fort Powhattan, where it enjoyed two days release
from duty, after three weeks of incessant and harassing service.
XIII —OPERATIONS AROUND PETERSBURG.
On the evening of the 29th of June, leaving Fort Powhattan, the
Cavalry Division -the First New Jersey being again in the advance
-moved rapidly southward, ordered to afford relief to Wilson, who
had been severely handled at Ream's Station, and was endeavoring
to re-join our army. Reaching Lee's Mills on the extreme left of
our lines on the following day, the command bivouacked for the
night, when, having picked up a number of Wilson's men, it fell
back, moving into a camp on the road between City Point and
the station of the dismounted cavalry, in which neighborhood it
remained, except when on picket, until the 26th of July, On the
evening of that day, the First and Second Cavalry Divisions, with
the Second Corps of infantry, moved secretly and rapidly across the
river at Deep Bottom-before morning surprising the command of
the rebel General Pickett, and capturing four twenty-pound Parrott
guns. On the 28th, the cavalry and a portion of the infantry,




THE SIXTEENTH REGIMtENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).              465
moving in flank and rear, advanced towards the Charles City road
above Malvern Hill.  Here, as Gregg moved around the enemy's
left, threatening the flank and rear, his flankers were briskly
attacked by rebel infantry skirmishers, who, however, were soon
driven back.  But the enemy speedily returning to the attack, a
sharp fight ensued, in which the First New Jersey participatedthe assailants again being repulsed with serious loss, but carrying
with them one of our guns. During the evening the Second Division fell back to Strawberry Plains, whence, after various manceuvers, it was pushed on to its old ground at Lee's Mills, where
the rebels during  our advance had established a picket-post.
Having destroyed the narrow bridge across the mill-dam, their position was one of considerable strength, but there was no hesitation
in its assault.  Moving through the swampy ground below, a dismounted force of the First Massachusetts, with the third battalion
of the First Jersey, pushed around the rebel right flank, while the
Tenth New York skirmished in their front.  Under cover of the
artillery, the Second Pennsylvania prepared to charge across the
mill-dam, while the First Jersey mounted was held ready to charge
as soon as plank could be laid upon the bridge.  At length, all
being ready, simultaneously the Pennsylvanians charged in front,
and the Massachusetts with the third Jersey battalion in the flank
of the enemy, forcing them to run at full speed into the wood,
abandoning their blankets and provisions.  As those of them  who
had reached their horses started off at rapid pace, the First Jersey
came thundering over the bridge, and dashed after them at a charge.
The movement was splendidly executed, but the rebels did not
wait for its importance. As the regiment went over and through
their barricades, the horses breasting the fence rails and crashing
among the trees, the enemy was seen in full gallop beyond them.
After a tremendous race, in which a few prisoners were captured,
the regiment returned, and the ground was held by an improved
line of pickets."
11 The following is the official repjrt of the actions of the First New Jersey during
the campaign which terminated with this engagement:
"On the 4th of May last, when the army crossed the Rapidan River on its march
59




466               INEWN  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
The 12th of August found the First Jersey again on the march
for the north side of the James, where, being joined by the Second
Corps, it advanced over the ground deserted the preceding fortnight.  During the advance, there was considerable  skirmishing
between our own and the rebel cavalry, during  which  the First
through the Wilderness, the honor of leading the advance across at Ely's Ford was
conferred on this regiment by General Gregg, which resulted in an unimportant skirmish and a dash after the rebel pickets, who fled on our approach towards Chancellorsville. Nothing occurred worthy of note until next day; at noon, we were ordered to
move towards Orange Court House.  When we arrived at a village called Todd's
Tavern, we met the Third Cavalry Division, commanded by General Wilson, rapidly retreating before the enemy's cavalry in a very disordered state. General Davies'
Brigade was immediately thrown forward, and having rapidly moved half a mile, we
met the advance of the enemy's cavalry pressing forward on the rear of General Wilson; Captain Hart, with the first squadron, was ordered to charge, which he did with
such impetuosity that the enemy in turn was routed, and the gallant first squadron
pressed him back on his main body, until they in turn were met by the charge of a
rebel regiment, which again turned the tide of battle. At this critical juncture I hastened to his support with three squadrons of my regiment, (the remaining two having
been sent on the flanks;) hastily forming these squadrons in line of battle, the whole
line moved forward and gave the enemy such a sharp volley, followed by rapid firing at
will, that he desisted from his charge, and endeavored to keep back the advancing line
of my regiment, but without success-forward we moved, as steady as on a parade, the
rebels endeavoring to check us by showers of canister, but with no avail, when they
hastily limbered their guns and fell back just in time to prevent their capture. In this
manner we drove the enemy two miles, through the thick forest of the Wilderness,
and halted only when we received positive orders from General Davies, we then being
far on the flank of the enemy's infantry. We held the position until dark, when we
were relieved by another regiment, who picketted the ground we had won. In this
little affair the regiment lost six men killed, two officers and forty-one men wounded.
The next day my regiment was not engaged. On the 7th, the cavalry corps was hotly
engaged, a part of the regiment being engaged on the left, but nothing of note transpired. On the 9th of May, when the cavalry turned the right of the rebel army on the
"Sheridan Raid," my regiment had the rear of the column, and was engaged with the
rebel cavalry during the latter part of the day. Captain Robbins had been sent with his
squadron on a road running at right angles with our line of march toprotect the flanks
as the column passed, and the enemy charged a brigade of their troops on the rearguard, driving it up on the rear of the column completely by the road on which this
squadron was placed, and effectually cutting it off from the main body. As soon as
Captain Robbins became aware of his situation he moved across the country towards
the road on which the main column was fighting, and was just in time to charge his
whole squadron through the ranks of the rebels as they were endeavoring to rally after
the repulse received from the charge they made on our rear-guard. This spirited
charge made them more cautious, and night coming on they hovered on our rear. My
regiment being in the extreme rear, remained on picket until day-break next morning,
when the rebels again assaulted our line, but were held in check until we were relieved
and across the North Anna River. We then took our place in the advance of the
column and continued our line of march. Next day we were sent to Ashland, my
regiment being engaged in tearing up the railroad did not come in contact with the
enemy. Nothing occurred during the remainder of the raid worthy of note, my regiment fully participating in the fatigue and hardships of that celebrated movement.
On the 25th of May, we again re-joined the army, and on the 28th, the enemy fiercely




THE SIXTEENTH  REGIMENT —(FIRST CAVALRY).                     467
Jersey had one or two men killed, and several wounded-LieutenantColonel Janeway lost a finger while using a pocket-handkerchief.
The desired position, however, was taken and held, several lines of
rebel earthworks being rendered useless.  On the following morning, the Second Cavalry Brigade attacked and routed the rebel cavattacked our pickets at Hawes' Shop, on the Richmond road, and my regiment was
ordered to their support. One company having been sent on each flank, mounted,
Captain Robbins, with Companies A, B, G and I, dismounted, moved forward and occupied a position on the right of the road, and opened a rapid fire from their carbines
on the line of the enemy which was forming for an attack. The remainder of the
regiment was moved to the left of the road, and having been dismounted, was ordered
to the support of the First Pennsylvania Cavalry, which was hotly engaged on the left
of the road. Captain Robbins being hard pressed, I ordered Major Janeway to take
Captain Brooks' squadron (Companies II and N) to his support, and to assume command of that part of the line. The enemy directed his fire at this part of the line,
and the severest cavalry fighting of the war raged for two hours in my front. The
enemy was a new brigade from South Carolina, armed with Enfield rifles, and was very
formidable. At this juncture, General Custer charged down the road with three regiments, and my men charged the whole line in their front, drove the enemy from his
line, and pursued him so rapidly for a mile and a half that he left his dead and
severely wounded on the field. The regiment in this engagement lost two officers
killed and nine wounded, nine men killed and forty-four wounded. The enemy left
one hundred and eighty dead on our front line. During the movement across the
Pamunkey River, our duties were confined to picketing and an occasional skirmish,
until the 7th of June, when the cavalry corps went to Trevillian's Station, nine miles
from Gordonsville. At this place, while picketing the country on the right of the
command, Major Janeway. with the third battalion, made a very dashing charge on the
enemy's rear, which was managed so cleverly that it excited the admiration of all who
saw it. On the 13th of June, the cavalry left Trevillian's Station to return to the
army, which was then crossing the James River. My regiment was assigned the important duty of rear-guard, and we skirmished with the enemy until that night, with
no serious loss. On arriving at White House, we found the enemy endeavoring to
capture a train of a thousand wagons, which had been left at that point, but after an
unimportant skirmish the enemy allowed us to conduct it safely to the James River,
the enemy being particularly engaged at St. Mary's Church.  With a trifling loss we
crossed the James River on the 29th of June, having suffered greatly from fatigue and
scarcity of provisions. Nothing occurred to vary the usual round of duties until the
recent movement at Deep Bottom, on the north side of the James River, in which
the regiment participated, and making a forced march arrived at Lee's Mills on the
extreme left of the army next day. Captain Brooks conducted a flank movement,
which dislodged the rebels from their position, and Captain Hick, with six companies,
made a dashing mounted charge, driving the rebels three miles, who fled precipitately,
leaving their personal effects strewn along the road. I cannot speak too highly of the
conduct of the officers and men of my regiment, and I am happy to state that the
recruits received last winter have imbibed the spirit of the veterans, and this regiment
will ever be an organization which will uphold the pride and honor of thie State of New
Jersey.
" The following is a list of the casualties among commissioned officers of the First
New Jersey Cavalry since May 4, 1864: Killed 2; wounded 13.
"I have the honor to be, very respectfully,
"Your obedient servant,
"JOHN W. KESTER, Colonel Commanding."




468           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
airy under General Chambliss, striking them near the junction of
the Quaker Road and that to Charles City Court House, and pursuipg the broken column through White Oak Swamp to within
a few miles of Richmond, picking up many prisoners; and then
returning and taking position near the Swamp. During the next
few days, the First Jersey was not engaged, but on the 18th, it
acted as a support to some of our guns which were attacked with
great violence by the enemy, enabling the cannoneers not only to
repel the assault but to drive the rebels from the whole field. On
the 19th, Warren having seized the Weldon Railroad, the cavalry
re-crossed the river and hurried to his assistance, reaching his position on the 20th. Here on the 21st, while Gregg's First Brigade
protected the engineers in their work, his Second aided in repelling
an attack on the extreme left of Warren's line, and thus permanently securing the line of the railroad. But the First Jersey did
not escape without loss-Phillips, of Company F; and one or two
other gallant troopers, whose term of service had just expired, but
who insisted upon taking part in the fight, falling either dead or
severely wounded in the front of the line on that last day of military duty. During the engagement of the 23d, near Ream's Station, the regiment was on picket, but on the 24th, when the Second
Corps was driven from the works it had erected in front of Warren's position, the cavalry again became engaged, covering the
withdrawal of the infantry.
With this engagement the First Cavalry terminated the period
of its original enlistment. On the 1st of September, the men
whose term of service had expired, embarked at City Point for
home, reaching Trenton a week later, but leaving the regiment as
an organization still in the field, its honors being duly inherited by
the hundreds of re-enlisted men and supported by its numerous
recruits. During the three years now expired it had lost six officers and twenty-nine enlisted men killed, and eighteen officers and
seventy-six enlisted men wounded.
On the 29th of September, the First Jersey was once more put
in motion.  Breaking camp at Prince George Court House, it
marched to the Jerusalem plank road, and at daylight on the




THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).          469
morrow moved to the extreme left of the army, (Warren's Corps,)
where it united, meeting the picket-line. Soon after the regiment
was ordered to advance to the junction of the Ream's Station and
Dinwiddie Court House roads, and to hold this position while a
battalion was sent at a charge into Ream's Station to drive in the
rebel pickets. This being done, Major Beaumont, commanding,
was directed to hold the two roads, and bring on a fight if possible,
General Gregg thinking the position a good one for an engagement.
Beaumont, accordingly, advanced to the junction, and sent Captain
Hart with two squadrons to charge through the Station. With a
shout, the men dashed to the assault, driving the enemy, almost
twice their number, from the works about the Station and three
miles beyond, capturing a number of prisoners and several horses.
Having accomplished this handsome feat, Hart: under orders, retired, and'Hobensack at- once established a picket-line with the
second battalion on the Station road. While this was going on,
Beaumont had thrown a picket-line across the junction, and sent
Captain Hick with two squadrons up the road to Dinwiddie Court
House, where, finding the rebels in about equal force, that gallant
officer charged them vigorously, driving them from their position
and capturing several prisoners. Returning, he established a strong
picket-line on this road, and though repeatedly attacked, bravely
held his position, as did also Captain Hobensack, who was similarly attacked. The enemy not advancing in formidable force the
regiment remained on picket until the morning of the 30th, when,
being relieved, it re-joined the brigade, but did not for some time
become engaged, although under fire during a part of the day.
At dark, however, it was again put in motion, being ordered by
General Davies, commanding the brigade, to advance along the
left of the Fifth Corps to the Armstrong House, and thence a mile
to the right, and communicate with Parke's (Ninth) Corps at the
Pegram House. The night being intensely dark and the road a
strange one, with the enemy known to be on the left flank and in
front, the advance was made with great caution, the men occasionally lighting a candle to discover their bearings, until at length
the Armstrong House was reached. As the command rode slowly




470          NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
up a hill in front of the house, in utter silence, those in advance
suddenly detected a clattering of sabers, mingled with words of
command.  "Who goes there?" rang out sharply on the air.
"Butler's South Carolina Brigade," was the startling reply. " Who
are you?"  "First New Jersey Cavalry, charge!" was the only
reply, as, with a yell, the regiment dashed through the thick darkness upon the invisible foe. One sharp volley was given, and then
the rapid and continuous clatter of hoofs on the gravel road in
front, gave notice that, even in that blind charge, the First Jersey
had won the field. One prisoner only was taken-Captain Butler,
brother of General Butler; of the rebel army. The regiment was
now collected and a line formed, and the enemy being found to be
on each flank, as well as in front, General Davies ordered a return
as far as Davis' House on the Vaughn road to Petersburg, where
General Gregg had his headquarters, and here the command lay in
bivouac for the remainder of the night.
At daylight on the 1st of October, in a drizzling rain, the brigade started for the Hawks' House, just in front of the left of the
Ninth Corps. Before that point, however, was reached, it was
learned that Hampton's (rebel) Cavalry had occupied the Davis'
House, and the command was ordered to return, which it did,
reaching and occupying the farm about the house, from which the
rebels had retired, shortly after noon. Disposition was then immediately made to meet any emergency, the Sixth Ohio being thrown
out dismounted, with the First Massachusetts on the right also dismounted-the First New Jersey being held in reserve.  The wisdom of thus holding the best troops in hand for the critical exigency
was soon apparent.  The Ohio and Massachusetts regiments were
suddenly attacked with great fury by Danovin and Mahone's
Brigades, dismounted, and rapidly driven in. Notwithstanding a
stubborn resistance on the part of the Massachusetts men, the line
soon broke and ran, rallying only in rear of the First Jersey. And
now an ominous silence for a moment ensued. Then suddenly the
dense woods in front of our position became alive with rebels,
who rushed forth on a double-quick, shouting and firing as they
advanced. Still the Jersey boys stood cool and calm, though ex



THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).          471
posed to a fire from the whole rebel line, as well as a yet more
terrible fire from six guns which had now been brought up to
within three hundred yards of our position. The spiteful buzz of
bullets, the shriek of solid shot and shell, and the fierce, rushing
whine of canister, all combined to affright the waiting line; but
with the colors planted in the center, the brave men stood unshaken,
and without firing a shot, until, with the enemy only twenty-four
paces in front, Beaumont gave the order to open. Then, what a
sheet of flame burst all along the line! Veterans of some of the
bloodiest fights of the war unite in declaring that the rapidity and
vigor of the fire which then flashed to and fro had never been surpassed; but however this may be, it is certain that it had its effect.
Thrice the enemy returned to the assault, and as often was bloodily
repulsed by the Jerseymen, assisted by the First Massachusetts,
which had rallied on their right during the combat. At length,
ceasing firing altogether, the rebels left the front, apparently beaten,
whereupon a charge was immediately ordered, and the men dashed
eagerly forward. In the rush, Sergeant Johnson, of Company G,
was the first man to cross the enemy's works; the color-guard
closely followed, and the regiment with a wild shout dashed into
the woods and charged full two hundred yards in advance of our
most advanced position, being then re-called to repel an attack on
the left flank, where Young's Brigade of Georgia Cavalry were
offering menace. While these events were occurring, our left flank
was picketted by Lieutenant Hughes with Company C, which, during the last assault of the enemy in front, had become hotly engaged. Hughes, however, soon found that he was surrounded, but
not by any means dismayed, he at once ordered a charge and succeeded in cutting his way out and re-joining his regiment in time
to give notice of the flank attack. While surrounded, Sergeant
Watts. of Company C, seeing a group of men dressed apparently
like our own, rode up to one who proved to be General Young, and
with some excitement, asked, "How in thunder are we going to
get out of here?" The General, who had mistaken the charge of
Hughes for the advance of a mounted brigade, and had delayed his
own attack upon our flank long enough to enable Beaumont to




472               NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
regain his works-seemed to be quite as much puzzled as Watts;
at any rate, he altogether failed to improve his opportunity to capture the surrounded troopers. Indeed, private Miles Downey, in
the movement through the rebel lines, seized upon Captain Jones,
one of the aids of General Young, and brought him in a prisoner
without receiving  a scratch.  This achievement of Company  C
closed the conflict, and remaining on the field during the night and
following day, the regiment on the 3d returned to its camp on the
Jerusalem plank road."2 Its losses amounted to four killed, seven
wounded and one missing.
XIV-CUTTING  THE  ENEMY'S  COMMUNICATIONS.
Early  in  December, the cavalry  was again  called to perform
important service.l3   The enemy being known to be in receipt of
large  supplies by way of the Welden Railroad to Stony Creek,
whence they were wagoned to Petersburg, the Fifth  Corps, with
the Third Division of the Second Corps and Gregg's Cavalry, were
detailed to operate upon and destroy the railroad as far as Hicksford.  Accordingly, at daylight on the morning of December 7th,
12 Major Beaumont in his official report of this affair, says:
"Great credit is due to Lieutenant Hughes and Company C, as their gallant onslaught upon General Young's rear doubtless saved us the day. We ascertained after
the fight, from the enemy's pickets, that General Young, when Company C charged,
sent word to General Hampton that he had been surrounded and would probably be
captured. To Captains Hart, Hobensack and Hick, commanding battalions, I cannot
give too much praise. I owe the coolness and firmness of my men to their gallant
example.
" Sergeant Clancy, Company C, killed General Danovin within ten yards of our lines,
as he led his brigade in the first assault, and no doubt his death assisted in a great
measure to demoralize the enemy.
"I cannot refrain from mentioning Captain Walter R. Robbins and Lieutenant
Brown. Though they were detached from the regiment at the time upon General
Davies' staff, they cheered our men by their presence in the thickest of the fight, and
Lieutenant Brown at a critical moment seized the colors, and himself bore them through
a storm of bullets. In our repulse of the attack of General Young, Lieutenant Shaw
and Sergeant-Major Dalzel rendered me efficient service in transmitting my orders and
seeing them carried out.
" In this fight the regiment fully sustained their previous reputation for gallantry,
and added new lustre to the reputation of New Jersey troops."
13 The following report to Governor Parker details the performance of the regiment
in the expedition to Stony Creek, which preceded the movement now to be described:
"I have the honor to report, that on the morning of the 1st instant, the First New
Jersey Cavalry moved with the rest of the division towards Stony Creek Station, on




THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT — (FIRST CAVALRY).                  473
the column started south on the Jerusalem plank road, the cavalry in advance, and crossing the Nottoway River bivouacked for
the night-the cavalry  division  encamping  near Sussex  Court
House.  At four o'clock on the following morning, the column
moved towards Jarrett's Station, on the Weldon Railroad, some
twenty-eight miles from Petersburg-the First New Jersey having
the advance.  Some two miles beyond Sussex Court House, the
extreme advance, composed of the first and third squadrons, commanded by Captain Hughes, of Company  C, met with some resistance, but without loss drove the enemy until ordered to halt for
the night at Jarrett's. During the night, the railroad at that point
was torn up by the infantry of Warren's command.  On the 9th,
the march was resumed at daylight, the First Cavalry Brigade
having the advance, but not becoming engaged until it had crossed
a small stream  called Three Creeks, where the First Jersey was
again  assigned to the post of honor.   The command had now
reached a point near Hicksford, where the enemy was posted in some
force, having a battery in position with strong works on both sides
of the Meherrin River.   The First Regiment having come into
position, Captain Brooks, with the fifth squadron, (Companies K
and H,) was directed to charge a force of the enemy who obstructed
our advance, which he did with great gallantry.  Although obliged
to move on a narrow road, through a thick wood, he charged resistlessly for a distance of a mile, when, suddenly coming upon an
abattis, which was perfectly impassable for horses, he halted, and,
under a heavy fire from the enemy's rifle pits, held his position
the Weldon Railroad, which place the head of the column reached at about twelve
o'clock, m., where a large quantity of stores were destroyed; two guns, and one
hundred and eighty-five prisoners, and six wagons, were captured.
" The Second Brigade being in the advance, this regiment was not engaged until the
division commenced to retire, when we had the honor of covering the rear. The regiment was heavily pressed by the enemy, but the men and officers behaved with their
accustomed gallantry and coolness. They were successfully repulsed in every attack.
Our loss was small. Lieutenant Dalzel, commanding the extreme rear-guard, was
wounded in the thigh, but was not obliged to relinquish his command. First Sergeant
John Williams, of Company A, and Private W. Townley, of Company E, also received
flesh wounds.
"I neglected to state that at Duvall's Station the regiment was ordered to destroy
a large quantity of railroad iron, and to burn a number of rebel workshops, which was
accordingly done.
"HUGII H. JANEWAY, Colonel Commanding."
60




474              NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
until the rest of the regiment came up.  Colonel Janeway, obtaining permission to dismount his command, at once formed a heavy
skirmish line on the edge of the woods, and then, with a cheer,
in the face of a severe fire, dashed upon the rifle pits in front,
speedily  driving out the enemy in disorder and  occupying the
position.14   That position, however, was one of great hazard, the
men being exposed to the fire of guns served with  murderous
accuracy.  But the brave troopers did not flinch, firmly holding
the pits for three hours, suffering terribly from cold, and exposed
to a heavy rain, which froze as it fell.
Meanwhile, the  work  of destroying  the railroad  and  other
property made rapid progress, and the object of the expedition
having been accomplished, on the 10th the command retired, reaching the position from which it started on the following day.  Few
"raids " of the war inflicted greater damage on the enemy than
this.  The casualties in the First New  Jersey during  the movement were comparatively  small, amounting only  to four killed,
eleven  wounded and four missing.   Major Robbins, who acted
on the staff of the brigade commander, and was continually with
the advance, received a bullet in his hat, and Captain Craig, who
participated in the charge of Captain Brooks, had his horse shot
under him.   Only one officer was injured, namely, Lieutenant
Reed, who received a severe shell wound on the shoulder, from the
effects of which he died before the regiment reached  its camlp.
Lieutenant Reed was one of the most promising officers in the
regiment, and his loss was universally regretted.
14 Colonel Janeway's report says of this charge and its result:
"At the command "charge," every officer and man sprang forward with a wild
cheer, each seeming to vie with the other in the effort to be the first to reach the rifle
pits, from which the enemy was pouring a destructive fire. Almost in less time than
it takes to write it, the rifle pits were ours, the rebels retreating in rapid disorder
across the railroad bridge. The charge was made under the heaviest fire of artillery to
which it has ever been my fortune to be exposed, and that from strong forts not five
hundred yards distant from the line we took. As our superior thought it best not
to advance further, the regiment was obliged to remain in the rifle pits for three hours
of daylight still left us, exposed to the fire of guns served with the most murderous
accuracy. Made to move about to keep the blood in circulation, although entirely
unprotected from a heavy rain, which froze as it fell. During the whole period of my
service with the regiment, I have never seen officers or men display greater gallantry
or more soldierly endurance of hardships."




THE SIXTEENTH  REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).                       475
XV-THE FINAL CAMPAIGN.
At last, the hour struck when the First New Jersey was to move
out for the last time against the columns of the enemy. As it had
shared in the perils and trials of three years of deadly combat, so
now it was to share in the glory of striking the final and decisive
blow, from  which  the long-defiant rebellion could never recover.
The story of that campaign, and of the services this regiment performed, is thus told in the report of the Major commanding:
"On the morning of March 29th, the regiment broke camp near Petersburg, and in
connection with the brigade, moved out on the Ream's Station and Dinwiddie Court
House road, crossing Rowanty Creek at Malon's bridge. The cavalry arrived at and
occupied Dinwiddie Court House that night. Colonel Janeway was ordered to move
out on the Flatfoot road and hold it for the night, which he did. On the 30th, the
brigade moved up on the Five Forks road to the support of General Merritt, but did
not become engaged. On the morning of the 31st, Captain Craig, Company A, commanding first squadron, who was picketing on the Mill road leading to Chamberlain's
Creek, took a portion of his reserve and cleverly passed through the rebel cavalry
vidette line, surprised and captured an infantry picket-reserve of the enemy, and
brought them into our lines without any loss to his command. For this bold and
skillful act Captain Craig is deserving of great praise. From these prisoners it was
learned that the divisions of the rebel Generals Pickett and Bushrod Johnson were
in our front. After receiving this information Colonel Janeway directed Major Hart
to strengthen and extend the picket-line. Colonel Janeway then ordered me to move
out with my battalion and make a reconnoissance on the left, and ascertain if the enemy
was moving around in that direction. In doing this I found the old Scott road leading
across Chamberlain's Creek to be entirely open, thus giving the enemy a splendid opportunity to move his troops between the brigades of General Davies and Smith. Feeling
the importance of this road, I left Captain Hick with Companies K, M and L to cover
it, while I pushed further to the left with Company H, Lieutenant Killy commanding;
communicated with General Smith and ascertained from him that the enemy were
quiet in his front. I then returned to the old Scott road, and moved my battalion
down to the ford on Chamberlain's Creek, dismounted, sent my horses to the rear,
caused a breastwork of rails to be made, and communicated the importance of the road
and what I was doing to Colonel Janeway. The Colonel came down and approved of
the course I had taken, and ordered me'to remain and hold the ford. About this time
the enemy made a spirited attack on the lines of Generals Gregg and Smith and vainly
endeavored to drive them from their position. Meanwhile they pushed two brigades
of infantry down to the ford and engaged my command, which was holding it. The
firing soon became sharp and vigorous. We had great advantage in position, being
behind works and on much lower ground than the enemy, who was without any covering and at easy range. Many of the enemy fell before our withering fire. Among the
number was General Ransom. Seeing that we were not to be forced from our position
in this manner, they passed one brigade to our right (which met Major Hart's battalion)
and one to our left enveloped our flanks, and charged a third brigade in our front. The
battalions, I am proud to say, remained at their post and kept up the firing until the
enemy was within fifteen yards of them; hopes of longer holding the ford could not
be entertained. The order was then given to fall back, which was done first in a broken
and confused line, but was quickly formed and placed in position to cover the left
flank ot the Tenth New York Cavalry, which had been ordered to our support some
time before. This regiment, after delivering two or three volleys went rapidly to the
rear, leaving my battalion to cover their shameful retreat. The enemy was in strong




476               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
force and moved rapidly against us, and my men could do nothing but keep up a running fight until we passed through Colonel Janeway's line, who, with the first and
second battalions and a Michigan regiment, was gallantly holding the enemy in check.
Major Hart, with the first battalion, had been sent out to my support, but meeting the
brigade of the enemy which had moved on my right, was unable to get to me. Major
Hart fought his command as he always did, with signal courage, great skill and telling
effect upon the enemy. It was his last fight. He was shot dead in his saddle. The
bullet entered his right cheek and passed through the spinal column. Colonel Janeway, with his own and a Michigan regiment, with detachments from other regiments,
retired before the overwhelming force of the enemy to the road leading from Dinwiddie Court House to Five Forks, where he connected his left with the remainder of the
brigade. The casualties of this day were as follows: Major James H. Hart, killed;
First Lieutenant and Acting Commissary-Sergeant, C. W. Camp, captured; three enlisted men killed, six wounded and four captured. Early the next morning the enemy
was pushed back, his force routed and many prisoners taken. On the 1st and 2d of
April our brigade remained in camp near Dinwiddie Court House, guarding the trains
of the corps. On the night of the 2d we moved from Dinwiddie Court House in rear
of the train to the Claubourne road, in the vicinity of Hatcher's Run, bivouacked for
a few hours, and then (on the morning of the 3d) pushed on. Crossing the Southside
Railroad at Sutherland Station, we marched that day to Wilson's plantation, on the
Namozord road, where we encamped for the night. The line of march was resumed
early on the next morning (the 4th) on a road running parallel to the one Lee was retreating on. We arrived at J ettersville, on the south side of the railroad, about four o'clock,
p. m. It was expected that the enemy would be found in force at this place. Nothing, however, was found and the cavalry was ordered to bivouac for the night. Persuant to orders from brigade headquarters, Captain Craig, with Companies A and B,
reported to General Davies, who instructed him to push down the Amelia Spring road
and ascertain if any force of the enemy was there. Captain Craig obeyed his instructions to the letter, returned and reported, having captured twenty-two infantry soldiers, thirty-eight horses and a number of mules, all of which he brought into camp.
From these prisoners it was learned that Lee, with his army, was at Amelia Court
House. At three o'clock on the following morning, our brigade was moving towards
that place. Arriving at Paines' Cross Roads, General Davies learned that the enemy's
wagon train was but a short distance off. Pushing rapidly on, we soon struck the
advance guard, consisting of one brigade of cavalry and one regiment of infantry and
a battery of artillery. General Davies at once charged and routed this force, captured
a large number of prisoners, five pieces of artillery, one hundred and eighty wagons and
three hundred and forty horses and mules. The wagons were all burned. The prisoners, artillery and animals were all brought off. In this charge five battle flags were
captured by the following named officers and men of the regiment: Captain Samuel
Craig, CompanyA; First Sergeant George W. Stewart, Company E; Private Lewis
Locke, Company A; and Private Christian Straele, Company I.
"After the capture of the wagon train, &c., General Davies directed Colonel Janeway to move up on a road to the left and hold it until he got well to the rear all captured property, prisoners, &c. Through some mistake, no orders were received by
Colonel Janeway to retire, but ascertaining that everything had re-crossed the stream,
he wisely withdrew, but upon arriving at the bridge he found it in possession of the
enemy. Captain Brooks, with Companies H and K, made an elegant charge and driving the enemy from the bridge, held the road leading to it, while the remainder of
the regiment crossed. Captain Hick, with Companies L and M, now formed the rearguard. Arriving at Painesville, the regiment was ordered to remain there one halt
hour and hold the roads while the captured property was being taken off. The enemy
now began to show himself in large numbers in our front and on both flanks. I was
directed by Colonel Janeway to take Company H, strengthen and assume command
of the rear-guard. The enemy pressed us vigorously, making several charges, which
were, with one exception, (the last,) handsomely repulsed. The enemy routed us in




THE SIXTEENTH  REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).                         477
his last charge and drove us back to a detachment of the regiment which had been
formed for our support. This detachment made a splendid charge and checked the
enemy, which enabled us to withdraw to where the remainder of the brigade was formed.
In this charge, the gallant Captain Brooks, of Company K, was taken prisoner and
sabered by General Geary after he had surrendered. A number of the men were also
wounded. The enemy here displayed a much larger force than our own. They lapped
both our flanks and engaged us sharply in our front, but the regiment, with brave,
skillful Janeway in command, unflinchingly stood their ground and used their Spencer
carbines with telling effect upon the enemy. It would be useless for me to particularize the actions of any officer or man-they all performed their duty in their usual manner as soldiers. The conduct of Surgeon Willes was so different from that of medical
officers generally, that I cannot pass it by without notice. He was in the thickest of
the fight and was of great service to Colonel Janeway in conveying orders and rallying
men from different regiments, taking them to the skirmish line, remaining there himself and encouraging them on. We were finally relieved by the Second Brigade of our
division, when we retired to a point near Amelia Springs, and remained at that place
till two o'clock, p. m., when we were again ordered into action. Colonel Janeway was
ordered by General Davies to support two other regiments in a charge. These regiments were repulsed in the charge and driven back to their support. Colonel Janeway
immediately ordered a charge, in leading which our brave, gallant Colonel was shot
through the head and died almost instantly. This cast a gloom over the whole regiment. His superior we never knew; a brave, skillful officer, a courteous gentleman, a
true, earnest patriot-qualities which have endeared him to every officer and man of
the regiment.
"We held the line until after dark, when we were relieved and ordered back to
Jettersville. The casualties of the day were as follows: Colonel Hugh I. Janeway,
killed; Captain Joseph Brooks, Company K, wounded and prisoner; Second Lieutenant James S. Metler, Company D, prisoner; Second Lieutenant William Wilson, Company G, prisoner; First Lieutenant and Adjutant James F. Clancy, wounded; twentyone prisoners.
"We bivouacked at Jettersvillc that night, and moved out at ten o'clock, a. in., the
following day. Generals Merritt and Custer had captured and burned a large number
of wagons near Sailor's Creek, and were heavily engaged with the enemy when we
came up. The cavalry corps was formed to charge the enemy-this regiment forming
the connection on the extreme right of the Second Division with General Custer's
Division (Third). In front of our regiment was a plain, open field, where the enemy
had a good line of rifle pits. I received orders from General Davies to charge this line
of works. I expected the whole line would charge at the same time, and moved on
his line of works at once. The troops on my right, however, instead of charging the
enemy, were being pushed back. The regiment acted splendidly, but it was impossible
for us to male any impression on the enemy's line. General Custer's division on my
right, and a portion of our brigade on my left, was giving way. The fire from the
enemy was terrible.  Lieutenants Ford and Metler, and many of the men, were
wounded; horses were dropping fast. I was forced to retire, which I did by moving
the regiment to the right, in order to place them under cover of a rising piece of
ground. Major-General Crooke and others complimented the regiment highly for the
gallant manner in which they conducted themselves. I then received orders from
General Davies to form the regiment in its original place in line. I understood afterwards that the order given the regiment to charge was rather premature. Some two
hours later, a simultaneous charge was made by the Sixth Corps and the cavalry. This
was probably the grandest cavalry charge of the war. General Ewell, with nearly all
his corps, was captured, besides a large number of cannon. In this charge I suffered
the temporary loss of Captain Hughes, Company C, commanding the second battalion.
He fell from his horse, wounded through the head. Captain Hughes is a brave officer,
and I could illy spare him. In going to the rear he discovered two pieces of artillery,
which the enemy, unable to move off, had secreted in the woods; he collected some




478                NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
dismounted men, and with a team of mules brought them  off. First Lieutenants
Johnson, commanding Company M, and Carty, commanding Company L, charged and
captured two light field pieces from the enemy. Captain Craig, as usual, had his horse
shot. We encamped on the battle-field that night. The casualties of the day were as
follows: Captain William Hughes, Company C, wounded and prisoner; First Lieutenant Thomas H. Ford, Company D, wounded; Second Lieutenant James Metler,
Company D, wounded; seven enlisted men wounded and two missing.
" The line of march was taken up early on the morning of the 7th, and the enemy
pushed rapidly to Farmsville and across the Appomattox River; here they made a
stand, and enticed the Second Brigade of our division into a beautifully-laid trap,
which resulted in their complete rout. This brigade came back in great confusion,
and but for the timely order of General Davies would have swept a portion of this
regiment along with them.  The General, seeing the state of affairs, directed me,
through Captain Lebo, of his staff, to move rapidly to the left of the road, and there
form and check the enemy, which order was executed to his entire satisfaction. The
action of my regiment upon this occasion gave great confidence to the troops in the
rear who were following us in the line of march. The brigade was formed in line,
and the enemy held by us until dark, when we were relieved by the infantry. Lieutenants Watts arnd Fay were wounded during the day. That night we marched to
and encamped at Prospect Station, on the Lynchburg Railroad. The list of casualties
of this day were as follows: Second Lieutenant Charles Watts, Company A, wounded;
Second Lieutenant Laurence Fay, Company F, wounded; and four prisoners. On the
8th, we marched to Appomattox Depot, on the Lynchburg Railroad. The regiment
was not engaged that day. Four trains of cars, loaded with supplies for Le,'s army,
were captured at the depot. On the morning of the 9th, our hearts were gladdened
by the intelligence that the enemy was now headed off, we being in possession of the
road on which Lee was retreating, and that if we could hold this road until our infantry came Lee and his army could not possibly escape. The bright smiling faces which
could be seen in the regiment told plainly that for their share of the work we could
depend upon them. General Davies was covering a road on the right of Lee's army.
The remainder of our division was fighting on our right. The General learning that
the enemy was driving them, ordered me through his very eficient Aid de Camp,
Lieutenant Robert Henry, Company A, of this regiment, to find and engage the
enemy's flank, favoring as much as possible the brigades of Gregg and Smith,
who were being so vigorously pushed.
"Captain Craig, who had the advance in this movement, reported a rebel cavalry
brigade moving towards us in an oblique direction, and apparently coming from General
Davies' front, and with intentions of cutting us off. I immediately sent Captain Beckman, with the remainder of his battalion, Companies G and I, to strengthen Craig and
throw out a strong skirmish line; at the same time Captain Hick. commanding third
battalion, was directed to move to the left and rear and remain there as a support.
Taking Captain Brown, with his battalion, I mancmuvered until I succeeded in getting
between the enemy and the remainder of the brigade. Captain Beekman at the same
time changed direction to the left, keeping his skirmishers between Bowen and the
enemy. Hick was then brought down to Bowen's position. The ever ready Henry, of
General Davies' staff coming down, I requested him to inform the General what I was
doing and what was opposing me; leaving it he sent the Twenty-fourth New York Cavalry down to report to me, and orders to fall slowly back and connect my skirmish line
with that of the infantry on my right and rear. All this was performed with the loss
of one man killed, Lemuel O. Smith, private, Company I.
"The infantry relieving us, we were ordered still further to the left, when we again engaged the enemy, and for the last time. Captain Beekman, with the first battalion, was
sent out on the skirmish line; an irregular and harmless firing was keptup for some time;
finally, the skirmish line of the brigade was ordered to charge the enemy supported by
the regiments; the enemy was quickly driven in confusion from their position. This successful charge had hardly terminated before orders were received for hostilities to cease.




THE  SIXTEENTH  REGIMIENT —(FIRST CAVALRY).                          479
An order was immediately sent by a " flag-of-truce," from General Crooke to the Commanding General of the rebel forces in front of our lines, informing him that General's Grant
and Lee were having an interview, and arranging the terms of surrender of the Army of
Northern Virginia to General Grant. In this f1 st engagement I cannot speak in too high
terms of Captains Ileekman and Cause. B3eekman so manceuvered a portion of his command, as to destroy the left of the enemy's skirmish line, by driving it " pell-mell" into
the road for Cause to make his last charge, and a gallant one it was. Second Lieutenant
Darnstaedt, of Company I, we claim to be the last officer wounded in the combined armies
operating against Lee's forces. Our cavalry division was the last to receive orders for a
cessation of hostilities. The last flag of truce sent out was through our brigade lines.
Lieutenant Darnstaedt received a painful but not dangerous wound in the head after the
truce passed our lines. Hostilities ceased and the terms of surrender were agreed upon.
We bivouacked that night on the battle-field, and our hearts were made glad by the return
of Captain Brooks from captivity. On the morning of the 10th, while we were encamped
at Prospect Station, we had the pleasure of receiving back our captured comrades, First
Lieutenants Joseph Killy and C. W. Camp. These officers, before the surrender, managed to make their guard prisoners and escaped with them into our lines. We arrived at
Petersburg on the 18th day of April. In this eventful campaign the regiment in every
engagement conducted itself with conspicuous gallantry. The conduct of the officers in
every instance was such as to elicit the praise of every one. Adjutant James T. Clancy
throughout the whole campaign rendered me most efficient service. His conduct in the
action of April 5th, called forth the commendation of Major General Crooke, and several
of his staff officers. On this day, while gallantly charging with a detachment of the regiment, he received a painful saber wound in the hand. He declined to leave the field in
this and subsequent battles. Great credit is due to Captain Hughes for our final success
in the afternoon of April 5th. On the 6th of April, First Lieutenant Thomas H. Ford
received a wound in the left breast by a glancing shot, prohibiting the use of his bridal'
arm, and the wearing of a saber belt, but he remained with and took an active part in all
the battles of the regiment.
"The following non-commissioned officers and privates received " medals of honor" from
the Secretary of War for gallantry in the campaign. First Sergeant George W. Stewart, Company E; Sergeant Aaron B. Tompkins, Company G; Sergeant David Southard,
Company C; Color-Sergeant Charles Wilson; Sergeant William Porter, Company II;
Sergeant Charles Titus, Company H; Sergeant John Wilson, Company L; Corporal William B. Hooper, Company L; and Private Christian Straela, Company I.
" In these "medals of honor," the soldier received a token which is of more value than
any which could be given him; they stamp the recipient a brave and faithful soldier, a
name to be honored and revered.
" Sergeant-Major William T. Allen and Sergeant Samuel Walton, Company A; Charles
Krouselmire and John Teirney, Company B; Sergeants William R. Bronson, C. Marshall
and Chester Merith, of Company C; Sergeant John H. Warren, Company D; Sergeant
John Shields, William Russell and John Foggerty, Company E; Sergeants Michael Williams and Edward F. Wenner, Company G; Sergeants John Brockfank and Willianm
Hudson, Company H; Corporal Phillips Klespies, Company H; Sergeants G. W. McPeek,
Aaron II. White, William H. Powell and William Booth; Corporals Joseph Marsh and
Francis Brown, Company K; Sergeant William Stout, Corporals John McKinney and
James Brady, Company L; Sergeants John Davis, James S. Fallman and Corporal William B. Euston, Company M, are all worthy of mention. They are well known in the
regiment for their good conduct in this memorable campaign. We remained in camp
near Petersburg until the morning of the 24th of April, when, in connection with the
cavalry corps we took up a line of march to Danville, Virginia, to operate against the
rebel General Johnson's army. After a march of five days, we reached Boston Bridge
Station, on the Richmond and Danville Railroad, when we learned that Johnson had
surrendered his army to General Sherman. We encamped there for the night, and on the
following morning commenced our return march for Petersburg, arriving there on the 3d
day of May. The regiment was not engaged during this march. In this, as well as in




480                 NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
the previous campaign, we are indebted to Lieutenant Robert Henry, Company A of this
regiment, and Aid-de-Camp to Brevet-Major-General Davies, for many good services
he rendered the regiment.  In all engagements of the regiment, when possible, he was
sure to be with us, and with his courage and zeal won the admiration of both officers and
men. On the morning of May 10th, we broke camp and commenced 6ur march for Alexandria, via Richmond and the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. We arrived at Alexandria on the morning of the 16th of May. On the 21st we marched to Bladensburg, Maryland. On the 22d, we had the pleasure of receiving our State Colors. On the 23d, we
took part in the Grand Review. The regiment was complimented by many for the neat
uniform dress aand soldierly appearance of its officers and men, and its precision in
march.
"WALTER R. ROBBINS, Major Commanding Regiment."
The campaigns of the First New  Jersey Cavalry were ended, and
in due time, quitting Washington, it proceeded to Trenton, where it
was finally  dissolved.   Among  all the  cavalry regiments of the
service, none acquired a wider celebrity than this, and in the  story
of the Nation's struggle, as it may be told in coming years, its
deeds  must be  ever conspicuous  and  memorable.   In  its  ranks
fought some of the bravest and  noblest soldiers  of the  war; men
whom  no danger appalled, no  suffering  disheartened, no  injustice
or neglect swerved from the faithful performance of duty; and
their deeds, living after them, shall be a more precious heritage to
coming generations than lands covered with harvests or gold  piled
to the skies.
The  following  shows the  officers of the  regiment during  the
whole period of its service:
COLONELS.
Percy Wyndham, February 19, 1862; mustered out July 5, 1864. 
John W. Kester, July 6, 1864; mustered out expiration of service, September 26, 18)4.
Hugh H. Janeway, October 11, 1864.
LIEUTENANT-COLONELS.
Joseph Karge, February 19, 1862; resigned December 22, 1S62.
Virgil Broderick, February 10, 1863; killed in action.
John W. Kester, September 21, 1863; promoted Colonel July 6, 1864.
Hugh H. Janeway, July 6, 1864; promoted Colonel October 11, 1864.
Myron II. Beaumont, November 1, 1864.
MAJORS.
Myron H. Beaumont, February 19, 1862; promoted Lieutenant-Colonel November 1,
1864.
Ivins D. Jones, February 19, 1862; resigned November 22, 1862.
Alexander M. Cummings, February 20,1862; resigned July 30, 1862.
Virgil Broderick, September 28, 1862; promoted Lieutenant-Colonel February 10, 1863'
Hugh H. Janeway, January 27, 1863; promoted Lieutenant-Colonel July 6, 1 864.
John Shelmire, February 10, 1863; died of wounds.




THE SIXTEENTH REGIMET —(FIRST CAVALRY).    481
MAJORS-(CONTINUED. )
John H. Lucas, August 12, 1863; killed at the Battle of Sulphur Springs, October
12, 1863.
Henry W. Sawyer, October 12, 1863.
Robert N. Boyd, July 6, 1864; not mustered.
James H. Hart, November 1, 1864.
Walter R. Robbins, November 1, 1864.
ADJUTANTS.
Myer J. Asch, February 19, 1862; promoted Captain of Company II, March 24, 1862.
Marcus L. W. Kitchen, October 8, 1862; promoted Captain of Company A, Second New
Jersey Cavalry, July 16, 1863.
Charles II. McSinstry, October 28, 1863; mustered out at expiration of service, September 26, 1864,
James F. Clancy, December 24, 1864.
QUARTERMASTERS.
Allen Dale, February 19, 1862; resigned August 17, 1862.
Edwin R. Blaker, October 8, 1862; resigned December 31, 1862.
Algernon Walton, (Commissary,) October 8, 1862; died September 14, 1863.
W. W. James, April 1, 1863.
Aaron P. Ivors, (Commissary,) September 26, 1863; mustered out at expiration of
service, September 26, 1864.
Charles W. Camp, (Commissary,) October 17, 1864.
SURGEONS.
W. U. L. Phillips, February 19, 1862; mustered out at expiration of service, September 20, 1864.
William S. Willes, February 10, 1865.
ASSISTANT-SURGEONS.
Ferdinand V. Dayton, February  19, 1862; promoted Surgeon of the Second New
Jersey Cavalry July 12, 1863.
John W. Blackfan, March 16, 1863; resigned December 10, 1863.
Samuel Powell, October 2, 1863; died August 8, 1864.
William S. Willes, April 4, 1864; promoted Surgeon February 10, 1865.
Samuel Jones, September 23, 1864.
CHAPLAIN.
Henry R. Pyne, February 19, 1862; mustered out at expiration of service September 20,
1864.
CAPTAINS.
COMPANY A.
John Shelmire, February 19, 1862; promoted Major February 10, 1863.
James H. Hart, October 8, 1862; promoted Major November 1,1864.
Samuel Craig, November 1, 1864.
COMPANY B.
Richard C. Lewis, February 19, 1862; resigned May 1, 1862.
Horace W. Bristoe, May 3, 1862; resigned December 2, 1863.
Francis B. Allibone, December 8, 1863.
COMPANY C.
JohnL. Tast', February 19, 1862; resigned August 2, 1862.
Willi.' W. Gray, August 14, 1862; resigned May 3, 1864.
William'vynkoop, June 13, 1864; mustered out at expiration of service September 26,
1864.
William Hughes, September 23, 1864.
61




482                 TNEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
CAPTAINS-(CONTINUED.)
COMPANY D.
Robert N. Boyd, February 19, 1862; mustered out at expiration of service September
20, 1864.
Jeremiah P. Brower, December 20, 1864.
COMPANY E.
John W. Kester, February 19, 1862; promoted Lieutenant-Colonel September 21, 1863.
William Harper, October 3, 1863.
COMPANY F.
John H. Lucas, February 19, 1862; promoted Major August 12, 1S63.
P. Penn Gaskell, October 23, 1863; resigned February 3, 1864.
John Hobensack, March 29, 1864.
COMPANY G.
Henry E. Clark, February 19, 1862; resigned March 1,1863.
Walter R. Robbins, March 1, 1863; promoted Major November 1, 1864.
Robert B. Cause, November 1. 1864.
COMPANY H.
William E. Morford, February 19, 1862; resigned March 24, 1862.
Myer J. Asch, March 24, 1862.
COMPANY I.
Benjamin W. Jones, February 19, 1862; resigned October 3, 1862.
P. Jones Yorke, October 3, 1862; promoted Major of the Second New Jersey Cavalry
August 27, 1863.
Garret V. Beekman, September 23, 1863.
COMPANY K.
Virgil Broderick, February 19, 1862; promoted Major August 28, 1862.
Henry W. Sawyer, October 8, 1862; promoted Major October 12, 1863.
Joseph Brooks, March 29, 1864; mustered out at expiration of service September 27,
1864.
COMPANY L.
Hugh H. Janeway, February 19, 1862; promoted Major January 27, 1863.
William 11. Hick, April 1, 1863; mustered out at expiration of service October 7, 1864.
COMPANY M.
Thomas R. Haines, February 19, 1862; killed in action June 6, 1832.
Jacob R. Sackett, June 14, 1862; resigned September 21, 1862.
James H. Hart, October 8, 1862; transferred to Company A, February 24, 1863.
Moses A. Malsbury, February 24, 1863; died of wounds received at Hawes' Shop, June
14, 1864.
John Kinsley, July 19, 1864; mustered out at expiration of service September 27,1864.
George A. Bowne, November 1, 1864.
FIRST LIEUTENANTS.
COMPANY A.
Jacob R. Sackett, February 19, 1862; promoted Captain of Company M, June 14, 1862.
John Hobensack, October 21, 1862; transferred to Company E, February 24, 1863.
William Wynkoop, October 21, 1862; promoted Captain of Company C, June 13, 1864.
George A. Bowne, July 19, 1864; promoted Captain of Company M, November 1, 1864.
Gilbert J. Johnson, November 1, 1864.
COMPANY B.
Allen Dale, February 19, 1862; resigned August 17, 1842.
Harry Jones, February 19, 1862; dismissed.
Richard Hamilton, January 3, 18{63.
COMPANY C.
William W. Gray, February 19. 18(2; promoted Captain of Company C, August 14,1862.




THE SIXTEENTH REGIIENT —(FIRST CAVALRY).                                 483
FIRST LIEUTENANTS-(CoNTINUED.)
William Harper, May 4, 1862; promoted Captain of Company E, October 3, 1863.
Samuel C. Lame, January 7, 1864; mustered out at expiration of service October 7, 1864
Jeremiah P. Brower, November 1, 1864; promoted Captain of Company D, December
20, 1864.
COMPANY D.
John Worsley, February 19, 1862; resigned April 7, 1862.
Henry W. Sawyer, April 7, 1862: promoted Captain of Company K, October 8, 1862.
J. Penn Gaskell, October 8, 1862; promoted Captain of Company F, October 23, 1863.
Edward H. Parry, January 7, 1864; mustered out at expiration of service October 5,
1864.
Thomas H. Ford, November 1, 1SG-.
COMPANY E.
Iarry Jones, February 19, 1862; transferred to Company  i.
Edwin R. Blaker, May 4, 1862; appointed Quartermaster October 8, 1862.
William Wynkoop, October 21, 1862; transferred to Company A, February 24, 1863.
John Hobensack, October 21, 1862; promoted Captain of Company F, March 29, 1864.
Robert B. Cause, March 29, 1864; promoted Captain of Company G, November 1, 1864.
Edward Gaskill, November 1, 1864.
COMPkANY F.
Moses W. Maulsbury, February 19, 1862; promoted Captain of Company M, February
24, 1863.
John Kinsley, February 24, 1863; promoted Captain of Company M, July 1 9, 1864.
William M. Shaw, July 19, 1864.
COMPANY G.
Walter R. Robbins, April 20, 1862; promoted Captain March 1, 1ts3.
Cortland Inglin, January 7, 1864.
COMPANY 1I.
William T. Inman, February 19, 1862; resigned April 14, ls62.
James H. Hart, May 3, 1862; prcmoted Captain of Company 3M, October 8, 1b62.
Joseph Brooks, October 8, 1862; promoted Captain of Company K, March 29, 1 864.
Samuel Craig, March 29, 1864; promoted Captain of Company A, November 1, 1864.
Joseph Killy, November 1, 1S64.
COMPANY i.
William W. Wurts, April 20, 1862; resigned May 28, 1863.
Edward E. Jamison, June 12, 1863; killed at the Battle of Mountain Run, November
27, 1863.
Birdsall Cornell, January 7, 186; mustered out at expiration of service September 26,
1864.
Frederick Schael, November 1, 1864.
COMPANY K.
C. B. Young, May 1, 1862; resigned May, 1862.
William H. Hick, May 11, 1862; promoted Captain of Company L, April 1, 1863.
William Hughes, January 7, 1864; promoted Captain of Company C, September 23, 1864.
Daniel McIntyre, November 1, 1864; not mustered.
COMPANY L.
Francis B. Allibone, March 25, 1862; promoted Captain of Company B, December 8, 1863.
Voorhees Dye, January 7, 1864; killed at the Battle of Hawes' Shop May 28, 1864.
Theodore Michenor, July 19, 1864; not mustered.
James Dalziel, December 20, 1864.
COMPANY 3M.
Horace W. Bristoe, February 19, 1862; promoted Captain of Company B, May 3, 1862.
Harry Jones, February 19, 1862; transferred to Company B.
Garret V. Beekman, October 21, 1862; promoted Captain of Company I, September 23,
1863.




484                NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
FIRST LIEUTENANTS-(CONTINUED.)
Thomas Cox, January 7, 1864; discharged October 7, 1864.
Carl Carty, December 20, 1864.
SECOND LIEUTENANTS.
COMPANY A.
James II. Hart, February 19, 1862; promoted First Lieutenant of Company H, May
3, 1862.
William Wynkoop, May 3, 1862; promoted First Lieutenant of Company E, October
21, 1862.
Edward H. Parry, October 21, 1862; promoted First Lieutenant of Company D, January 7, 1864.
Theodore Michenor, January 7, 1864; discharged November 2, 1864.
Robert Henry, July 29, 1864.
COMPANY B.
Joseph Harris, February 19, 1862; deserted June 23, 1862.
John Hobensack, June 23, 1862; promoted First Lieutenant of Company A, October
21, 1862.
Voorhees Dye, February 24, 1863; promoted First Lieutenant of Company L, January 7, 1864.
George A. Bowne, February 28, 1864; promoted First Lieutenant of Company A,
July 19, 1864.
Robert Tuthill, July 19, 1864; not mustered.
James Dalziel, September 23, 1864; promoted First Lieutenant of Company L, December 20, 1864.
John Williams, December 20, 1864.
COMPANY C.
William Harper, February 19, 1862; promoted First Lieutenant May 4, 1862.
John H. Morris, May 4, 1862; resigned December 25, 1862.
Isaac Rogers, February 24, 1863; resigned July 8, 1864.
James M. Straddling, July 19, 1864; declined.
Gilbert J. Johnson, September 23, 1864; promoted First Lieutenant of Company A,
November 1, 1864.
Louis Fobs, November 1, 1864.
COMPANY D.
Henry W. Sawyer, February 19, 1862; promoted First Lieutenant April 7, 1862.
J. Penn Gaskell, April 7, 1862; promoted First Lieutenant October 8, 1862.
Edward E. Jamison, October 8, 1862; promoted First Lieutenant of Company I,
June 12, 1863.
Samuel Craig, August 12, 1863; transferred to Company L, February 28, 1864.
Thomas H. Ford, February 28, 1864; promoted First Lieutenant November 1, 1864.
James Mettler, November 1, 1864.
COMPANY E.
Francis B. Allibone, February 19, 1862; promoted First Lieutenant Company L,
March 25, 1862.
Alexander Stewart, May 4, 1862; resigned December 10, 1862.
Samuel C. Lame, December 20, 1862; promoted Lieutenant-Colonel January 7, 1864.
Daniel McIntyre, February 28, 1864; discharged December 6, 1864.
Charles Watts, November 1, 1864.
COMPANY F.
Aaron S. Robbins, February 19, 1862; resigned April 17, 1862.
Jacob H. Hoffman, July 23, 1862; dismissed January 5, 1863.
Cortland Inglin, February 24, 1863; promoted First Lieutenant of Company G, January 7, 1864.
William M. Shaw, February 28, 1864; promoted First Lieutenant July 19, 1864.




THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).                               485
SECOND LIEUTENANTS-(CONTINUED.)
Asher Wardell, July 19, 1864; not mustered.
James F. Clancy, September 23, 1864; promoted Adjutant December 20, 1864.
Lawrence Fay, December 20, 1864.
COMPANY G.
Gerald Weston, April 30, 1862; resigned May 20, 1862.
S. Richards Colwell, November 1, 1862; resigned April 2, 1863.
Robert B. Cause, August 17, 1863; promoted First Lieutenant of Company E, March
29, 1864.
Alexander F. Stewart, March 29, 1864; died June 5, 1864, of wounds received at
Hawes' Shop.
Edward Gaskill, July 19, 1864; promoted First Lieutenant of Company E, November 1, 1864.
Joseph R. Reed, November 1, 1864; killed in action near Belfield Station, Virginia,
December 10, 1864.
William Wilson, January 30, 1865.
COMPANY IH.
Henry Stull, April 5, 1862; resigned September 18, 1862.
John Kinsley, October 21,1862; promoted First Lieutenant of Company F, February
24, 1863.
Hyde Crocker, February 24, 1863.
COMPANY I.
Edwin R. Blaker, February 19, 1862; promoted First Lieutenant of Company E, May
4, 1862.
Cornelius Van Reypen, May 4, 1862; resigned August 17, 1862.
Birdsall Cornell, August 8, 1862; promoted First Lieutenant January 7, 1864.
John W. Bellis, February 28, 1864; killed at the battle of Hawes' Shop, May 23, 18G4.
Frederick Schall, July 19, 1864; promoted First Lieutenant November 1, 1864.
Richard Damstradt, November 1, 1864..
COMPANY K.
William M. Hazen, February 19, 1862; resigned October 9, 1862.
William Hughes, October 21, 1862; promoted First Lieutenant January 7, 1864.
Joseph Kelly, February 28, 1864; promoted First Lieutenant of Company H, November 1, 1864.
Henry Werner, November 1, 1864.
COMPANY L.
Garret V. Beckman, February 19, 1862; promoted First Lieutenant of Company M,
October 21, 1862.
Charles H. McKinstry, November 29, 1862; promoted Adjutant October 28, 1863.
Samuel Craig, August 12, 1863; promoted First Lieutenant of Company H, March
29, 1864.
A. L. McKinney, March 29, 1864; not mustered.
Carl Carty, September 23, 1864; promoted First Lieutenant of Company M, Decenmber 20, 1864.
COMPANY M.
Alanson Austin, February 19, 1862; killed in action August 9, 1862.
Thomas Cox, October 21, 1862; promoted First Lieutenant January 7, 1864.
Jeremiah Brower, February 28, 1864; promoted First Lieutenant of Company C,
November 1, 1864.
Samuel Wood, November 1, 1864.




CHAPTER  XV.
THE TWENTY-FIRST  REGIMENT.
ON the 4th of August, 1862, President Lincoln ordered that a
draft of three hundred thousand militia be immediately called into
the service of the United States, to serve for nine months, unless
sooner discharged.  A  few days subsequently, the quota of New
Jersey was designated as ten thousand four hundred and seventyeight, and the regulations for the draft were announced, providing
that an enrollment be immediately made of all able-bodied male
citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, and that
the drawing be made on the 3d of September. The State authorities at once took the necessary steps to meet the requirements of
this order, but a general desire being manifested by the people of
the State to fill the quota by voluntary enlistment, it was announced that volunteers in lieu of drafted men would be received
up to the 1st of September, but that the draf would positively
take place at the time appointed in any township which should not
by that time have furnished the full number of men required.
The result of this policy, and of the general disposition to escape
the stigma of a draft, was gratifying in the extreme.  Everywhere
throughout the State, the utmost enthusiasm and energy were exhibited, not only by those liable to the conscription, but by citizens
of all ages and classes.  For several days previous to that fixed
for the draft, men poured into camp by thousands, and by the evening of the 2d of September, the five camps' contained ten thouThe camps of rendezvous were established as follows: Rendezvous No. 1, at
Trenton, Brigadier-General N. N. Halsted, Commandant; Rendezvous No. 2, at Beverly,
~Brigadier-General George M. Robeson, Commandant; Rendezvous No. 3, at Freehold,
Brigadier-General Charles Haight, Commandant; Rendezvous No. 4, at Newark,
Brigadier-General Cornelius Van Vorst, Commandant; Rendezvous No. 5, at Flemington, Brigadier-General Alexander E. Donaldson, Commandant.




tHE TWENTY FIRST RIEGIMENT.                               487
sand  eight hundred  volunteers.2   On  the morning of the 3d, the
State authorities had the satisfaction of announcing to the Adjutant-General of the United States that the quota of New Jersey
was in camp, without a single drafted  man.3    As rapidly as possible, after being  received  in  camp, the men  were  organized  into
companies and regiments, clothed, uniformed, equipped and placed
under instruction, and by the 10th  of October all had  left for the
field.    The  numerical strength  of  the  regiments,  which  were
numbered from Twenty-first to Thirty-first inclusive, the date of
muster, and the date of departure from the State, were as follows:
Twenty-first legiment-Colonel, Gillia   an VaHouten. Mustered September 15, 1862
Officers, 38; enlisted men, 928. Total, 966. Left the State September 24th.
Twenty-second Regiment-Colonel, Cornelius Fornet. Mustered September 22, 1862
Officers, 38; enlisted men, 899. Total, 937. Left the State September 29th.
Twenty-third Regiment-Colonel, John S. Cox. Mustered September 13; 1862. Officers, 39;.enlisted men, 955. Total, 994. Left the State September 26th.
Twenty-fourth Regiment-Colonel, William  B. Robertson. Mustered September 16,
862. Officers, 39; enlisted men, 946. Total, 985. Left the State September 29th.
Twenty-fifth  Regiment-Colonel, Andrew  Derrom.  Mustered September 29, 1862.
Officers, 38; enlisted men, 946. Total, 984. Left the State October 10th.
Twenty-sixth Regiment-Colonel, Andrew J. Morrison. Mustered September 18, 1862.
Officers, 38; enlisted men, 920. Total, 958. Left the State September 26th.
Twenty-seventh Regiment-Colonel, George W. Mindil. Mustered September 19, 1862.
Officers, 38; enlisted men, 973. Total, 1014. Left the State October 10th.
Twenty-eighth Regiment-Colonel, Moses N. Wisewell. Mustered September 15, 1862.
Officers, 39; enlisted men, 881. Total, 920. Left the State October 2d.
Twenty-ninth Regiment-Colonel, Edwin F. Applegate. Mustered September 20,1862.
Officers, 39; enlisted men, 910. Total, 949. Left the State September 28th.
Thirtieth Pegiment-Colonel, Alexander E. Donaldson.  Mustered  September 17,
1862. Officers, 39; enlisted men, 967. Total, 1006. Left the State September 30th.
Thirty;first Regiment-Colonel, Alexander P. Berthoud. Mustered  September 17,
1862. Officers, 39; enlisted men, 962,  Total, 1001, Left the State September 26th.
It is the story of the services of these regiments, extending over
the darkest period of the war, which we commence to recite.
The Twenty-first Regiment, as we have  seen, was organized  at
Trenton, in August, 1862, and  was composed  of eight companies,
(A, B, C, D, F, G, I and  K,) from   Hudson  County, and  two, (E
and H,) from   Mercer County.   The following  were the names of
2 This number was subsequently reduced, by medical examination, to ten thousand
seven hundred and fourteen, being two hundred and thirty-six more than the number
called for.
At this time, no other State had its quota in camp, so that here again New Jersey
led all her sisters.




488               N EW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
the field and staff officers: Colonel, Gillian Van Houten, of Hudson
City; Lieutenant-Colonel, Isaac H. Mettler, of Jersey City; Major,
Hiram   Van Buskirk, of Bayonne;  Surgeon, James McNeil, of
Hudson  City;  Assistant-Surgeon, William   Janney, of Mercer
County; Adjutant, Andrew  Van Buskirk, of Bayonne; Quartermaster, William  Harper, Hudson  City.4    The  regiment being
organized, armed and equipped, all which was accomplished in
about ten days, it was mustered into the United States service on
the 15th of September, and the next day took its departure for
Washington.  A  day or too after its arrival, it was ordered to
Frederick  City, Maryland, and  thence  to  the  battle-ground of
Antietam, where it joined the Army of the Potomac. Immediately
upon reaching headquarters it was attached to the Third Brigade,
Second  Division, Sixth  Corps, with  which  it  served  during
its entire term of enlistment, sharing the privations and hardships,
and participating in all the engagements in which that famous
corps took part during the nine months following.
A few days after joining the army, the regiment marched with
its corps to intercept the rebel cavalry, then making a'raid" into
Maryland and Pennsylvania.  After marching as far as Hagerstown, however, it was found that the rebels had escaped into
Virginia, and the march was not continued further.  Remaining
about two weeks at Hagerstown, the command was then suddenly
ordered, at midnight, to march in the direction of Dam  No. 5, on
the Potomac, to oppose another expected advance of the rebels
4 The following is the original list of company officers of this regiment:
Company A-Captain, George H. Farrier; First Lieutenant, Alfred H. Brown; Second
Lieutenant, Henry E. Farrier. Company B-Captain, Thomas C. Kendall; First Lieutenant, Theodore Wandle; Second Lieutenant, Francis H. Bookstaver. Company C-Captain, James W. Lowe; First Lieutenant, William D. W. C, Jones; Second Lieutenant,
William H. Devoise. Company D-Captain, Jeffry W. Collins; First Lieutenant, William
H, Smith; Second Lieutenant, Samuel Ramsey. Company  — Captain, Joseph S. Mount;
First Lieutenant, John W. Bowers; Second Lieutenant, John B. Van Neste. Company 1'
-Captain, James W. Van Keuren; First Lieutenant, John Daniel Probst; Second Lieutenant, Charles Leo Abey. Company G-Captain, Frank Tyler; First Lieutenant, John
Shaffle; Second Lieutenant, Michael Shaffle. Company t —Captain, Foster W. Vankirk;
First Lieutenant, Richard J. Richards; Second Lieutenant, James M. Weart. Company
I-Captain, John Vreeland; First Lieutenant, John F. Holden; Second Lieutenant, John
H. Garrison. Company K —Captain, Edgar A. Finney; First Lieutenant, Noble Griglietti; Second Lieutenant, William Alberts.




THE TWENTY-FIRST REGIMENT.                489
into Maryland. Reaching Dam No. 5, it was stationed to guard
that ford, and extending its lines some two miles along the river,
held the position until the army moved into Virginia, in pursuit of
Lee.
The army having moved, orders were received by Colonel Van
Houten to call in his regiment from the ford and join his brigade
on the Williamsport road. Accordingly, the regiment was mustered as soon as possible, and moved out towards its destination.
It being late in the afternoon when the order was received,
darkness set in before the regiment overtook the main column;
and after marching at a rapid rate until midnight, without finding
any trace of the brigade, the men being so much exhausted that
it was impossible to keep them together, the Colonel ordered it
into camp for the night. Early the next morning it was again put
in motion to join the brigade, and after marching about an hour
the junction was effected. Immediately upon joining the brigade,
the Colonel was placed under arrest by the brigade commander,
General Vinton, for not coming up during the night. This unjust
and uncalled for act was vehemently condemned by both officers
and men of the regiment, and the Colonel promptly demanded an
investigation of the matter by court-martial, but after being held
under arrest for a few days, he was finally released and ordered to
the command of his regiment.  This was very unsatisfactory to
the Colonel, as it gave him no opportunity to vindicate himself
from the imputation upon his efficiency; but he had no remedy.
This arbitrary act of General Vinton caused an antipathy to spring
up between the General and the officers and men of the regiment,
which lasted a long time, and led to the regiment being sent out
upon picket two or three times a week while on the march through
Virginia to Aquia Creek. Finally, the attention of Brevet MajorGeneral A. P. Howe, the division commander, was called to the
injustice, when a stop was at once put to it, and thenceforward the
regiment was only called upon to perform its proper share of picketduty. With the exception of this, nothing of interest occurred
until the army arrived before Fredericksburg, on the evening of
December 10th. Here this regiment, with one or two others, was. 62




490           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
placed under the command of Colonel Alexander Shaler, as the
advanced guard of the left Grand Division (Franklin's) of the
army, with orders to advance to the Rappahannock and cover the
laying of the pontoons for crossing the river. After some severe
skirmishing, the pontoons were laid, and during the afternoon of
the 11th it crossed with the brigade, with which it advanced upon
the enemy, driving him back until possession was gained of the
Bowling Green road, where line of battle was formed and our
batteries placed in position, the regiment being assigned as a
support to Wier's (Maryland) Battery. This trying position it held
from the afternoon of the 11th until the morning of the 15th,
during the whole of the hard-fought and desperate engagements.
On the night of the 15th, it re-crossed the river with the rest of the
army, and was ordered to cover the removal of the pontoons, being
the first to reach the river, and the last to leave in this engagement.
Although the regiment was under a severe cross-fire of the enemy's
artillery, it had but six or eight men wounded.
After this battle, the regiment went into camp with the rest of
the corps, near White Oak Church, Stafford County, Virginia.
Early in January, five hundred men, with the requisite number of
line officers, under the command of the Major, were ordered to
report to the Chief Engineer of the army for special duty, namely,
the construction of a corduroy road for an approach to the Rappahannock River, about six miles below  Fredericksburg.  This was
a dangerous work, the position being about one mile and a half
below the picket-lines of our army, and within a few yards of the
enemy's lines. The work had to be done at night, the men commencing soon after dark and quitting before daylight, but by
vigorous efforts it was completed in three nights, when the men
returned to camp. This work was intended as a blind to the rebels,
and a cover to the movement which was made by Burnside against
their lines a few days afterwards, known as the "mud march,"
which was participated in by this regiment, the march being one
of great fatigue and hardship, with barren results.  After this,
the regiment returned to its old camp, near White Oak Church,
where it remained until spring, engaged in drilling and other




THE TWENTY-FIRST REGIMENT.                 491
duties. In the latter part of April, 1863, when the army, then
under the command of General Hooker, was put in motion, the
Twenty-first moved with its corps (the Sixth) to the Rappahannock
River, where a crossing was effected at Franklin's crossing.  On
the evening of the 2d of May, the corps moved forward to attack
the rebels, and during that night this regiment was engaged, supporting the skirmish line in driving the enemy to his entrenchments.  At daylight of the 3d, the enemy having discovered our
position, opened fire with musketry and artillery, whereupon the
regiment was ordered forward as skirmishers.  Four companies
were at once deployed and moved out, supported by the remaining
companies of the regiment, and steadily drove the enemy to a
point designated by the Commanding General. At about eleven
o'clock, a charge was ordered along the whole line, which resulted
in the capture of the line of rebel redoubts, seventeen pieces of
artillery, and a number of prisoners. In this charge, the regiment
took part, behaving gallantly, and receiving the commendations of
its Commanding General for its soldierly action. Immediately on
getting possession of the Heights of Fredericksburg, the troops
were moved forward in the direction of Chancellorsville, where the
main body of the army was then engaged. After advancing about
four miles, the First Division of the Sixth Corps came upon the
enemy posted in a thick pine wood. Our troops attacked them  at
once, but were repulsed with severe loss in killed aind wounded.
The Twenty-first Regiment then moved forward with its brigade to
their support, and after some desultory fighting until dark, was
placed in line of battle, facing Chancellorsville. At break of day,
on the following morning, (the 4th,) the enemy was found to be
advancing upon our flank, having already taken possession of the
Heights captured by our troops the day before, and flanking our
position. Orders were at once given to face the line of battle from
front to rear, so as to check the advance of the enemy in that
direction-this duty devolving on the Third Brigade, to which
this regiment was attached. The latter was ordered to hold the
plank road, up which the enemy was rapidly advancing; and
taking a commanding position, by a steady and well-directed fire




492            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
it checked his further advance, until the whole brigade was brought
into proper position. Soon after, however, the enemy commenced
to concentrate in strong force in front of the position held by the
brigade, it being the extreme left of the line of battle of the Sixth
Corps, but the position was firmly held.  Little fighting was done
through the day, except between the skirmish lines, but about five
o'clock in the afternoon, the rebels advanced in four columns upon
our lines; and now commenced the severest conflict in which this
regiment was ever engaged.  General Thomas H. Neil, the brigade
commander, riding up to Colonel Van Houten, ordered him to
advance his regiment to meet the charge.  This was quickly done,
under a heavy fire of musketry and artillery. Advancing about
one hundred yards, the regiment was ordered to halt and open fire,
which, being steady and well-directed, twice repulsed the enemy.
About this time, however, the Twentieth New York Regiment,
(known as Max Weber's Regiment,) on the right, broke in confusion
and fled to the rear-the regiment on the left simultaneously falling
back in order under the heavy fire of the rebels on their frontthus exposing both flanks of the Twenty-first to a cross-fire of the
enemy, now advancing in augmented force upon its front.  The
position of the regiment at this time was critical.  The bravest
troops could not long withstand this terrible cross-fire. Colonel
Van Houten fell mortally wounded, and the regiment was losing
heavily in both officers and men, and, accordingly, General Neill
ordered it to fall back, which it did, after having maintained its
ground in the face of a murderous fire for about three-quarters of
an hour.  In falling back, the regiment became somewhat confused, but (the Lieutenant-Colonel, for some unaccountable reason,
having left the field in the morning,) the Major, upon whom the
command now devolved, with the assistance of the Adjutant and
remaining line officers, soon rallied the men, and continued the
fight in good order until darkness ended the conflict. During the
night, it re-crossed the river with the rest of the corps at Banks'
Ford, about six miles above Fredericksburg.  In this engagement
the regiment lost heavily, in both officers and men, killed, wounded
and prisoners. Most of the wounded, among whom were Colonel




THE TWENTY-FIRST REGIMENT.                       493
Van Ilouten,.Captain Kendall, Captain Schaffle, Lieutenant Schaffle,
and several other officers, fell into the enemy's hands. Colonel
Van Houten was carried to the rear, a distance of about half a
mile, to a barn, where he became utterly exhausted, and it was
found impossible to remove him further. Sergeant-Major George
W. Fielder, of Jersey City, was left to attend to his wants, but
during the night the enemy occupied the ground, preventing his
rescue.   He died  the next morning, and  was buried  by  the
Sergeant-Major, who, stating the circumstances of his capture to
General Barksdale, the rebel commander, was at once released on
parole. The body of the Colonel was recovered in a few days,
under flag of truce, and sent home to Hudson  County under a
proper guard, commanded by First Lieutenant William  D. W. C.
Jones, of Company C, a brave and efficient officer, and a bosom
friend of the deceased.  Colonel Van Houten's death was a severe
blow to the regiment, by whom he was warmly esteemed as a brave
soldier and skillful commander.
During  the engagement, the headquarters wagon  of General
Pratt, commanding the Light Brigade of the army, having been
abandoned by his men, this regiment secured his effects, among
which were all of his valuable papers.   They also secured several
mules laden with ammunition, which, but for their intervention,
would have fallen into the hands of the rebels.  The men lost
nearly all their clothing and blankets, having unslung knapsacks
on going into the fight, and not being able to recover them when
retreating.5
The next day after crossing the river, the regiment was ordered
to relieve the Twentieth Maine Regiment, guarding the telegraph
lines from United States Ford (where the main portion of the
5 A few days after this fight, several of the field officers of the brigade were relating
to the brigade commander (General Thomas H. Neill,) the manceuvers of their respective regiments during the engagement; after hearing them, the General replied,
"I have been through the Mexican and Indian Wars, and in all the battles of the
Army of the Potomac up to the present time, but I never before experienced so heavy
an infantry fire as that directed against the Twenty-first New Jersey Regiment during
the assault of the rebels upon my lines. I have no fault to find with any regiment of
my brigade, but if I had commanded four or five regiments equally as tenacious in
holding their ground as the Twenty-first, the enemy would never have broken my
lines."




494               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
army  crossed) to Falmouth.  This order was received  at night,
and was at once obeyed.   The night was very  dark, the rain
coming down in torrents and continuing to do so for several hoursthe regiment marching  through mud and water, half knee-deep,
drenched  to  the skin, but successfully  accomplishing  the task.
Soon after performing this duty; the regiment returned  to its old
camping-ground, near White  Oak  Church, where the next three
weeks were spent in drilling and guard duties.
About the first of June, General Hooker discovering that General Lee was moving his forces north  towards Washington, the
Sixth Corps was ordered to make a demonstration against his rear.
Accordingly, early on the morning of June 3d, the corps moved
towards the Rappahannock River, and on the morning of the 4th
reached Franklin's crossing.   Here the enemy was found posted
in a strong position behind breastworks.  Arriving near the crossing, the Twenty-first, now  under the command  of Major Van
Buskirk, was ordered  forward  as skirmishers, the  order being
promptly complied with, and the line advanced to the bank.  It
was found impossible, however, to dislodge the enemy from  his
G The following is the report of the brigade commander in reference to this action:' HEADQUARTERS THIRD BRIGADE, SECOND DIVISION,
SIXTH ARMY CoRPS, May 7, 1863. 
"I have the honor to report, for the information of the General commanding the
division, that on the night of May 2d, I led my brigade across the pontoon bridge at
Mansfield, on the Rappahannock, about two and a half miles below Fredericksburg, and
posted two regiments, the Forty-ninth and Thirty-third New York, as pickets in front
of the enemy. At twelve o'clock, midnight, my brigade was ordered to march along
the Bowling Green road towards Fredericksburg. Whilst waiting to get the road the
enemy attacked the left of my picket-line, held by the Forty-ninth New York. The
Forty-ninth repulsed them and held their ground. On the morning of the 3d, Sunday,
at about ten o'clock, a. m., I was ordered to form three regiments as the advance of a
column of assault against the heights on Mary's Hill, back of Fredericksburg. I led
the Thirty-third New York, Twenty-first New Jersey and Seventh Maine, preceded by
the Seventy-seventh New York, who were acting as skirmishers, under a heavy fire of
shot and shell. Before reaching the batteries on the hill, against which we were directed, I found they had already been taken by our troops on our right, and I directed
the attack against the batteries on the hills to our left, along the Richmond road. We
took in succession four distinct detached earthworks of strong profile. We captured
three pieces of artillery, two long brass guns and one short howitzer, and one stand of
colors belonging to the Eighteenth Mississippi Regiment, after which we marched to
assist in repelling an attack of the enemy along the Chancellorsville road.
"On the morning of the 4th of May, the enemy attempted to turn our rear, when I
led four regiments of my brigade back towards Fredericksburg and checked him. I
must not omit to mention, that on the morning of the 4th instant, a brigade of rebels




rpHE TWENTY-FIRST REGIMENT.                         495
strong position without the use of artillery; whereupon four batteries were posted in the rear of the regiment, and having opened
fire, soon silenced the guns of the enemy. Under cover of this
united fire of musketry and artillery a body of men was thrown
across the river in boats and carried the enemy's works at the point
of the bayonet, capturing about two hundred and fifty prisoners.
In this skirmish the regiment lost one man killed-shot through
the head by the enemy's sharpshooters while on the skirmish line.
He was a member of Company A, of Jersey  City, and universally
beloved by the mrnmbers of his company.
This ended the fighting of the Twenty-first.   Soon  after this
action the regiment was ordered home to Trenton, its term of service having expired. Reaching Trenton about the 15th of June,
it was reviewed by Governor Parker, and handsomely entertained
at a public dinner given by the citizens and presided over by the
Mayor.  Soon after the regiment was mustered out of service and
the men returned  to their homes.  Many of them  subsequently
re-enlisted in other regiments and served during the war.  Some of
the companies, upon their return to the localities in which they
were raised, were handsomely received by the people.  Company C
advanced to take an earthwork near the plank road, which was there occupied by our
troops, when two companies of the Forty-ninth New York and one company of the
Seventh Maine, supported by the Forty-ninth New York, in conjunction with two
pieces of Lieutenant Martin's Battery, entirely routed the whole brigade; and the
three companies of infantry afore-mentioned captured two hundred prisoners, and the
colors of a rebel regiment, the Fifty-eighth Virginia.
"On the evening of the 4th of May, about five o'clock, p. m., the whole of Longstreets' rebel corps came up the Richmond road as reinforcements, attacked my right
and front, massing large numbers of his infantry in the ravines which were held by their
troops. After losing about one thousand men, I was obliged to retire, my regiments
being unable to cope with the overpowering numbers of the enemy, and fearful, lest
the position I then held would be captured by the enemy piercing our lines in the
rear, between us and Bank's Ford.  In the assault the Twentieth Regiment New
York Volunteers, broke and went to the rear-I could not rally them. The other
regiments stood their ground nobly under a murderous fire, and by their stubborn
resistance at that time, I believe the Sixth Corps was enabled eventually to re-cross the
Rappahannock at Banks' Ford in the night. Colonel Van Houten, Twenty-first New
Jersey, was wounded on the field of battle, and I regret to say has died-a prisoner in
the hands of the enemy-from wounds received in battle.
"I cannot close my report without making full and sincere acknowledgments to the
brave officers and men of the various regiments of my command, who encountered the
enemy at these different battles.  The horses of both my aides and my own were shot.' With great respect,
" THOMAS H. NEILL."




496           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLIO.
was given a public reception and dinner, and the Major of the
regiment, and officers and men of the company were the recipients
of handsome gold and silver medals at the hands of the inhabitants of the towns of Bergen, Greenville and Bayonne, from which
towns the company was recruited.




CHAPTER XVI.
THE TWENTY-SECOND  REGIMEN-T.
THE Twenty-second Regiment, composed almost exclusively of
volunteers from the county of Bergen, was mustered into service
at Trenton on the 22d of September, 1862,1 and left for Washington seven days later, arriving safely after some detentions, and
going into camp on East Capitol Hill. Remaining here for a few
days, it was then moved to a point about ten miles north of Georgetown, where it was employed in various duties, agreeable and otherwise, such as drills, labor upon the fortifications then in course of
construction, and the like.  About the  last of November, after
being brigaded with the Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth and Thirty-first
New Jersey, and One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Pennsylvania
Regiments, it proceeded by way  of Port Tobacco to Liverpool
Point, whence it crossed, on December 5th, to Aquia Creek, the
march being one of great difficulty, and taxing the endurance of
The original roster of the regiment was as follows:*
Colonel, Cornelius Fornet; Lieutenant-Colonel, Alexander Douglass; Major, Abraham G. Demarest; Adjutant, John F. Satterthwait; Quartermaster, Ural B. Titus;
Surgeon, Jacob Quick; Assistant-Surgeons, Samuel H. Jones, John E. Cary; Chaplain, Abraham G. Ryerson. Company A-Captain, Robert M. Berry; First Lieutenant,
Jacob Post; Second Lieutenant, Jacob Lozier. Company B-Captain, Abraham Van
Emburgh; First Lieutenant, Jacob Z. Van Blarcom; Second Lieutenant, E. Z. Van
Emburgh. Company C —Captain, Samuel D. Demarest; First Lieutenant, William J.
Demarest; Second Lieutenant, Joseph P. Vreeland. Company )D-Captain, John C.
Westervelt, First Lieutenant, Walter H. Rumfey; Second Lieutenant, Nicholas Colignon. Company E-Captain, William Chippendale; First Lieutenant, William Drew,
Second Lieutenant, John Gilham.  Company F-Captain, James M. Ayres; First
Lieutenant, Joab Titus; Second Lieutenant, George W. Cubberly. Company G-Captain, John H. Margerum; First Lieutenant, Richard HI Ivory; Second Lieutenant,
William C. Vandewater.  Company H-Captain, Daniel D. Blauvelt; First Lieutenant,
George Kingsland, Jr.; Second Lieutenant, Gilbert D. Bogert. Company I-Captain,
Thomas H. Swenarter; First Lieutenant, Joseph A. Blauvelt; Second Lieutenant,
David C. Blauvelt. Company K —Captain, Richard C. Dey; First Lieutenant, James
Christie; Second Lieutenant, Albert Forbush,
63




498            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
the men to the utmost-their sufferings being increased upon their
arrival by a cold and pitiless storm, which continued two days.
The weather finally clearing, the regiment was placed on provostduty, assisting to guard the line of the Fredericksburg Railroad,
and at one time aiding in transferring the dead and wounded from
the cars as they came in from the bloody field of Fredericksburg,
where Burnside had sought in vain to drive the enemy from his
position. Early in January, 1863, the regiment was ordered to
report to the Third Brigade, First Division, First Army Corps,
and accordingly proceeded to Belle Plain, where it remained for
some time. While here, Lieutenant-Colonel Douglass, who had
been Acting Colonel,2 resigned, and Abraham Demarest, of Creskill, was appointed to the command, Abram Van Emburgh being
appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, and Samuel Demarest Major. During
the winter, the regiment participated in the "Mud March," but
was not otherwise actively employed, except in preparations for
the spring campaign.  At length, on the 28th of April, marching
orders, which had been for some time anticipated, were received,
and the regiment broke camp, crossing the Rappahannock on the
following day (with the division) on the extreme left of our lines,
some five miles below  Fredericksburg, and taking position in
reserve. Here it remained, without bringing on a serious engagement, though exposed at times to a vigorous fire, until the 2d of
May, when it re-crossed the river. During the withdrawal, the rebel
fire was kept up with great intensity, and two or three men of the
regiment were wounded.  The men now generally supposed, as
their term of service had expired, that they were to turn their faces
homeward, but in this they were disapppointed, the command being
ordered to hurry to the relief of the army still engaged in desperate
fighting about Chancellorsville.  Marching with all possible expedition, the regiment reached the position to which it was ordered
early on the morning of the 3d; but though the fighting was still
in progress, it was not again called into action.  The army soon
after withdrawing, the Twenty-second returned to its old position,
2 Cornelius Fornet, who had been elected Colonel, did not go out with the regiment,
and it was consequently for some time without a Colohel, greatly to its detriment.




TIE TWENTY-SECOND REGIMENT.                    499
whence, a few days subsequently, it proceeded to Centreville, and
was released from service. Continuing its march to Washington,
it departed thence by rail for Trenton, arriving there on the 22d of
June, and a few days later being finally disbanded, having been
nine months in the service.  While its losses from the casualties of
battle had been few, it had suffered largely from  sickness and disease, some fifty deaths in all occurring while it was in the field.
That it did not achieve greater distinction was the result of circumstances with which it had nothing to do; and if its record is brief,
it is at least worthy a place in the history of New Jersey's part in
the war for the Union.




CHAPTER XVII.
THE  TWENTY-THIRD  REGIMENT.
THE Twenty-third Regiment was raised in the summer and fall
of 1862, and was mustered into the Federal service at Beverly on
the 13th of September-Company A, from  the city and township
of Burlington, being the first to reach the rendezvous, on the
25th of August-Company B of Bordentown mustering the same
evening.'  Leaving  Beverly  September 24th, the  regiment proceeded to Washington, going into camp on East Capitol Hill, but
in a few days after moving to Frederick  City, Maryland.  Here it
1 " Owing to the scarcity of mustering officers and the large number of troops ready
to muster, we were detained at the rendezvous from the 1st, when we were ready, until
the 13th day of September, when Captain Royal of the regular army made his appearance. Yet during the period of this detention for muster, to the honor of the organization be it recorded, not one case of desertion marred its fair fame, and during the
ten months the regiment remained in service but four cases of desertion are recorded
against it; these men it afterward appeared, were misled by the bad counsel of some
men of older organizations in the brigade, and who accompanied them in their mad
flight from duty. The whole party, undergoing incredible hardships and exposure,
were finally captured and in punishment sent to the Dry Tortugas. " —-otcs of an officer.
The following were the original officers of the Twenty-third Regiment:
Colonel, John S. Cox; Lieutenant-Colonel, George C. Brown; Major, Alfred Thompson; Adjutant, William G. Winans; Surgeon, William Cook; Assistant-Surgeons,
David G. Hetzel, Robert W. Elmer. Company A-Captain, Francis W. Milner; First
Lieutenant, Charles Sibley; Second Lieutenant, Edward Rigg. Company B-Captain,
Francis H. Higgins; First Lieutenant, Samuel E. Brannin; Second Lieutenant, Lewis
Ayres.  Company C-Captain, Samuel Carr; First Lieutenant, Henry C. Risdon;
Second Lieutenant, George W. Severs. Company D-Captain, Reading Newbold; First
Lieutenant, David R. Newbold; Second Lieutenant, Charles H. McIntyre. Company
— Captain, Augustus Grober; First Lieutenant, Isaac Shinn; Second Lieutenant,
Alfred C. Seeds. Company F-Captain, Samuel R. Smith; First Lieutenant, James S.
Budd; Second Lieutenant, Elwood H. Kirkbride.  Company C-Captain, Joseph R.
Ridgway; First Lieutenant, Jacob Perkins; Second Lieutenant, William H. Stokes.
Company H —Captain, Henry A. McCabe; First Lieutenant, David S. Root; Second
Lieutenant, James Carter. Company I-Captain, John I. Burnett; First Lieutenant,
Robert M. Ekins; Second Lieutenant, William Frazer. Company K-Captain, William
J. Parmentier; First Lieutenant, Leonard H. Ashley; Second Lieutenant, Samuel W.
Downs.




THE TWENTY-THIRD  REGIMENT.                           501
remained until the 8th of October, when it started  for Bakersville
to join the First Jersey Brigade, with which it was ever after idenSKETCH OF THE OFFICERS.
COLONEL JOHN S. Cox, mustered September 13, 1862, as Colonel of the regiment
saw no actual service. He resigned October 31st, and was succeeded by LieutenantColonel Henry O. Ryerson, of the Second New Jersey, of whom a sketch is elsewhere
given. Originally Captain of Company B, then Major and Lieutenant-Colonel of the
Second Regiment, he was sent to command the Twenty-third on its arrival at Crampton's Pass on the 31st of October, 1862, and commissioned its Colonel on the 12th of
the month following. He commanded at the first battle of Fredericksburg, being under
fire with the regiment exactly one month after the date of his commission. On account
of the short time the Twenty-third had to serve, he applied for and received command
of the Tenth New Jersey.
The vacancy caused by the transfer of Colonel Ryerson was filled by E. Burd
Grubb, originally Second Lieutenant of Company C, then first Lieutenant of Company
D, Third New Jersey. He served, not without distinction on the staff of General
Taylor, being in all the engagements in the Peninsular campaign in which that officer
participated. He was sent to the Twenty-third as Major on the 24th of November,
1862, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Major Thompson, and was promoted to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy on December 26, 1862, on the resignation of Colonel
Brown. Colonel Grubb was the most popular officer of the regiment; while being a
strict disciplinarian, almost bordering in some particulars on the martinet, he still
managed to so ingratiate himself in the affections of his command that duty soon became with all a work of love. In both the battles in which the regiment bore a not
undistinguished part, he showed conspicuous courage, not asking his men to face any
dangers he was unwilling to share. It was due to him that the right of the regiment,
when thrown into confusion by the terrible fire to which it was subjected, was rallied
and led into the thickest of the combat at Fredericksburg. At Chancellorsville, always
at the head of his regiment, mounted until his horse was shot from under him, then on
foot, still animating the men and leading them onl-himself the furthest in the front
and the last to leave the field-seeming to bear a charmed life, he moved from point to
point, calm and cool, the men nerved to daring by his example, until farther exertion
no longer availed. His influence on the men of his regiment was unbounded, as will
be fully shown in the history of the incident at White Oak Church, Virginia, on the
5th of June, 1863. After the return of the regiment, and their final muster-out,
the men came flocking back to Beverly, on account of a rumor that Colonel Grubb was
raising the Thirty-fourth Regiment. He was appointed in command of Post No. 2,
Beverly, and afterwards raised the Thirty-seventh New Jersey, served with it before
Petersburg, and was rewarded by the commission of " Brigadier-General by Brevet"
for gallant conduct.
The vacancies caused by the promotions of Colonel Grubb were successively filled
by Captain F. W. Milner, of Company A, these promotions being made by virtue of
seniority, Captain Milner being the ranking officer of the line. This officer was unfortunately sick in the hospital at Washington during the battle of Chancellorsville.
The vacancy in the field caused by the promotion of Major Milner, was filled by the
appointment of Captain William J. Parmentier, of Company K, who received his commission shortly thereafter. This officer was of a genial temperament, and when off
duty a leader in all the hilarity with which the tedious hours of camp life were enlivened. He acted with great coolness under fire, and made a good reputation, especially
at Chancellorsville. His company was much exposed at Fredericksburg, and lost more
heavily than any other in that action.
On the 22d of November, 1862, Adjutant Winans tendered his resignation, and Lieutenant Jacob Perkins, of Company G, was selected to fill his place. He did not remain
a great while in the service, and was succeeded by First Lieutenant Samuel W. Downs,




502               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
tified.   Remaining at Bakersville  until the  30th, the  regiment
marched  with  the  brigade in  the  direction of Crampton's  Pass.
then of Company G-originally of Company K. This officer secured the good feeling
of all the officers of the regiment by his unfailing courtesy and good humor. He possessed a good share of courage, and did not falter in his duty at Fredericksburg where
his company was the most exposed. While at Chancellorsville he received honorable
mention in dispatches for gallant conduct. He was afterwards a Captain in the Thirtyseventh-in which regiment he bore as good a reputation as he made in the Twentythird.
The Quartermaster, Abel H. Nichols, was a good officer, and afterwards served in
the same capacity in the Thirty-fourth New Jersey, with equal satisfaction to those
with whom he came in contact.
Surgeon William Cook resigned early in October, 1862, and sometime thereafter his
place was filled by the selection of Doctor Luther C. Bowlby, Assistant-Surgeon of the
Fourth New Jersey. This proved fortunate for the regiment, for though young he
showed much medical and executive ability, and added thereto an industry in the discharge of his duties seldom equalled by an army Surgeon. His assistants, Doctors
Hetzel and Elmer, were both above the average of regimental medical staffs, and to
this is doubtless attributable the fact that so few comparatively died-although subjected to very great exposure. Doctor Hetzel afterwards filled a similar position in
the Thirty-fourth, where he gave general satisfaction to those who were unfortunate
enough to need the exercise of his professional skill.
In closing the reference of the field and staff, mention should be made of the SergeantMajor, John S. McKee, This officer was the most genial spirit of the regiment, and a
universal favorite. He was brave and fearless, and behaved well in the two engagements in which the regiment fought, after one of which he received a well-earned promotion as Second Lieutenant of Company C-afterwards being made the First Lieutenant ot the same company. His promotion was followed by the appointment of
Samuel Browne, Jr., as Sergeant-Major, who was also soon afterwards made Second
Lieutenant of Company C. This officer behaved well at Chancellorsville, leading and
rallying his company.
After the promotion of Captain Milner, Lieutenant Paul R. Hambrick was selected
to command Company A. He came from the same company of the First New Jersey,
and was the best company clerk in either regiment. He led his men with courage at
Chancellorsville, and was severely wounded in the onset by buck and ball in the abdomen, from which he never fully recovered. He served afterwards in the Veteran Reserve Corps, and for some time wasProvost Marshal of the District of Columbia.
Captain Higgins, of Company B, resigned some time in December, 1862, and was succeeded by Samuel E. Brannin, the First Lieutenant of the company. On his resignation being accepted he was succeeded by Edward E. Kirkbride who succeeded Brannin
as First Lieutenant-and who was selected to fill the vacancy in the Captaincy.
Captain Samuel Carr being severely wounded in the foot at Fredericksburg, resigned
on account of the disability, and was succeeded by George W. Severs, at first Second,
and afterwards First Lieutenant of the company.
Captain Reading Newbold, of Company D, was slightly wounded at Chancellorsville,
but re-joined the regiment in time to be mustered out at Beverly.
Captain Augustus G robler, of Company E, resigned some time in January 1862, and was
succeeded by Harry A. Coursen, a good officer. Captain Coursen came from the Seventh
New Jersey, in which regiment he was a First Lieutenant. Captain Grobler afterwards
went out as Second Lieutenant of Company C, Thirty-fourth New Jersey, was appointed First of Company H, and held several commands of Post-Quartermaster while
present with his regiment in Alabama.
Captain Samuel B. Smith was slightly wounded at Chancellorsville-re-joining the
regiment at Beverly, New Jersey.




TlIE TWENTY-THIRD  REGIMENT.                          503
Here the Colonel (Cox,) was relieved from command, and Lieutenant-Colonel H. O. Ryerson, of the Second, was placed in charge
Captain Joseph R. Ridgway was a brave and gallant officer, and lost his life at Fredcricksburg December 13, 1862, just as his military life was commencing. He was
wounded by a Minie ball which struck him above the temple, and probably killed him
instantly. He was succeeded by Henry C. Risdon of Company C.
Captain Henry A. McCabe resigned immediately after the battle of Fredericksburg.
The vacancy caused by his resignation was finally filled by Forrester L. Taylor, who
was originally a private of Company A, and was the only instance of so rapid promotion to be found in the history of the regiment. He was appointed Second Sergeant of
his company September 13, 1862, First Sergeant November 19th, Second Lieutenant
of Company G, for services at Fredericksburg, December 13th, First Lieutenant of
Company D, February 14, 1863, and Captain of Company H, for services at Chancellorsville-in which action he was mentioned in dispatches for gallant conduct, and has since
been awarded the rank of Major, by brevet, United States Volunteers. This officer afterwards was appointed Adjutant on Colonel Grubb's Staff at Post No. 2, Beverly, in
August 1863, and was mustered in'as Captain of Company H, Thirty-fourth New Jersey Volunteers, serving in that organization until February, 1865.
Captain Burnett of Company I, retained the command of his company until it was
mustered out of the service.
Captain Parmentier being promoted to the Majority was succeeded by Lieutenant L.
H. Ashley, and the vacancy was filled by First Sergeant George W. Arbuckle, who afterwards was commissioned in the Third Cavalry.
First Lieutenant Charles Sibley of Company A-and who justly merited promotion
to the Captaincy of his company upon the removal of Captain Milner to the field-was
one of the most brave and gallant officers in the regiment. His coolness was well displayed at Fredericksburg where he well earned the promotion denied him. His coolness and bravery were equally displayed at Chancellorsville where he laid his life on
the altar of his country-the country he loved with his whole heart. He was originally
a private of Company B, of the old Fourth (three months') Regiment.
First Lieutenant David R. Newbold of Company D, was taken sick in camp at White
Oak Church, Virginia, after the return of the regiment from Fredericksburg, and soon
afterwards his death was reported, the vacancy being filled by Second Lieutenant Taylor, of Company G.
First Lieutenant Isaac Shinn of Company D, resigned on account of disability, and
was succeeded by Second Lieutenant Samuel L. Wright, of Company C.
First Lieutenant James S. Budd, of Company F, though not a superior officer, was a
brave and honorable man, who was always prepared to do his duty as he understood it.
He behaved well at Fredericksburg, in which action he was severely wounded in the
foot. He also behaved with distinguished bravery at Chancellorsville, in which action
he lost his life, at the head of his men. He was greatly liked as a man, and was very
quiet and unpretending in his manners.
Second Lieutenant Edward Rigg, of Company A, was promoted to be First Lieutenant of Company G in the latter part of November 1862, the vacancy in Company A
being filled by the appointment of Howard H. Goldsmith, a private of Company B,
Third New Jersey, then on duty as clerk at Brigade Headquarters. He did not join
the regiment, but was appointed on the staff of General Torbert, and continued on
duty at Brigade Headquarters. He was afterwards promoted to First Lieutenancy in
the Tenth New Jersey, still filling the position of Staff Officer.
On the resignation of Charles H. McIntyre, Second Lieutenant of Company D, the
vacancy was filled by the appointment of Sydney H. McCarter, a Sergeant of Company
B, Second New Jersey. This young officer lost his life and gained an enviable reputation for bravery and daring at Chancellorsville. He was killed while leading his company, after his Captain had been wounded slightly and left the field.




504                NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
of the regiment.   While halting here, and during the week following, the  regiment was weakened  by  sickness and  other causes.
Resuming the march on November 1st, the command two days
after crossed the Potomac, and pushing  forward, on the 9th  encamped  near New  Baltimore, having  during  the march  suffered
greatly from  exposure.  Here the regiment remained for some time,
and was for the most part quite  comfortable.   While  here  Major
Thompson  and  Adjutant Winans left the  regiment-Lieutenant
Perkins, of Company G, being promoted to the place of the latter.
General Burnside  having  assumed  command  of the  army,  the
brigade on the 16th broke camp and proceeded to Catlett's Station,
thence moving to Stafford Court House, where it remained  a fortnight, drilling actively in preparation for the struggle which was
felt to  be  imminent.    While here, Lieutenant E. Burd  Grubb
was commissioned Major and joined the regiment, moving  with  it
on the 3d of December in the direction of Falmouth.  As the comSecond Lieutenant Richard J. Wilson, of Company H, was appointed from Company
B, Second New Jersey, in which regiment he had attracted the attention of his commanding officer, then Lieutenant-Colonel Ryerson. He was a quiet, unostentatious, steady
officer, and behaved with more than ordinary bravery at Chancellorsville, in which
action he was wounded three times, twice before he attempted to leave the field. The third
time he was struck, he had his leg broken just above the ankle, and was found by his
comrades and carried off the field during the retreat. His company sustained heavier
loss than any other in the regiment in this action. He received honorable mention in
dispatches for gallant conduct, and though he never fully recovered from his wounds,
afterwards served in the Veteran Reserve Corps.
Second Lieutenant Edward L. Dobbins, of Company I, appointed from QuartermasterSergeant, and filled that position until the regiment was mustered out. He was appointed
to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Second Lieutenant William Frazer.
PROMOTIONS FROMn THE ENLISTED MEN.
Private F. L. Taylor, of Company A, to be Major by brevet in United States Volunteers.
Private Samuel Browne, Jr., of Company A, to be First Lieutenant.
Sergeants George W. Arbuckle, of Company H, Edward L. Dobbins, of Company 1.
William  Holernan, of Company I, Benjamin R. Haines, of Company E, Charles H.
Southwick, of Company B, Michael F. Smith, of Company B, William  C. Stokes, of
Company G, to be Second Lieutenants.
Sergeants John F. McKee, of Company A, Samuel L. Wright, of Company C, to
be First Lieutenants.
PROMOTIONS FROM OTHER REGIMENTS.
Private H. H. Goldsmith, Company B, Third Regiment, to be Second Lieutenant.
Corporal R. J. Wilson, Company B, Second Regiment, to be Second Lieutenant.
Sergeant S. H. McCarter, Company B, Second Regiment, to be Second Lieutenant.
Second Lieutenant E. Burd Grubb, Company C, Third Regiment, to be Colonel.
Lieutenant H. A. Coursen, Company I, Seventh Regiment, to be Captain.
First Lieutenant P. R. Hambrick, Company A, First Regiment, to be Captain.
Captain Henry 0. Ryerson, Company B, Second Regiment, to be Colonel.




iTHE TWENTY-THItD REGlaIEiNT.                   505
mand approached, on the 10th, the banks of the Rappahannock,
the booming of cannon announced the proximity of the enemy;
and soon the order came to halt and prepare for action.  It was
not, however, until the morning of the 12th, that the regiment
crossed the river below Fredericksburg, and, forming on the plain,
in front of the enemy, moved forward to assail his position. Advancing in good order, and bravely surmounting the obstacles in
its way, the regiment, as it became exposed to the fire of the
rebels, was ordered to seek shelter, but this could not easily be
obtained, and accordingly, some two hours later, the position was
changed, the men finally finding protection for the night in a deep
ravine.2  On the morning of the 13tl, after climbing the sides of
the protecting bluff, and re-forming on the open plain, the regiment was advanced with the brigade, taking position in a cornfield, where it remained until three o'clock in the afternoon,
exposed to the fire of the enemy's batteries, but fortunately
escaping loss.  Towards evening, under orders of General Brooks,
the regiment again changed position, with a view of supporting
the line already in action, and the left wing soon became engaged.
The battle at other parts of the field had now raged furiously for
hours.  General Bayard had fallen; Colonel Hatch, of the Fourth
Regiment, had been killed; the Fifteenth Regiment had suffered
heavy loss, and the wounded in large numbers drifted back from
the field; the Fourth and Fifteenth were being driven-the enemy
pressing confidently forward. The six companies of the Twentythird advancing, lost heavily at every step; but still the right
wing was inactive. Where were the officers? Supine, listless, or
worse, they left the men to huddle helplessly together, until Major
(afterwards Colonel) Grubb, appearing upon the scene, rallied and
led them forward to meet the enemy.  The latter, however, was
2 C" Before the desired shelter was reached a piece of shell took effect in the arm of a
member of Company A, inflicting a serious wound from which he never fully recovered. In this little affair we had an instance of the coolness of Colonel Ryerson.
While seated on his horse a solid shot that had nearly spent its force, passed in a line
with him, so close that his life was saved only by his throwing himself flat on his
horse's neck, and fell with a dull thump in the bluff behind him. He reached down
from his saddle without dismounting, recovered his cap, and then sat composedly in
his saddle awaiting further orders." —Notes of an officer.
64




50 6           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
prepared for the movement, and at once poured a withering fire
into the ranks of the Jerseymen.  Presently, as the fight deepened
in intensity and spirit, a battery moved up to the left of the line,
and opening fire with grape, swept great gaps in the ranks, at first
staggering, and then compelling the precipitate withdrawal of the
regiment to the original line.  The enemy still keeping up his
cannonade. the command marched back in the dusk of the evening
to its old position in the corn-field, where it remained until relieved
on the following day.  The total loss of the regiment, in this
engagement, was three officers and fifty-seven men killed and
wounded. Among the killed was Captain Joseph R. Ridgway, of
Company G, and among the wounded Captain Samuel Carr, of
Company C, and Lieutenant James S. Budd, of Company F.  The
regiment was highly commended for its steadiness in action, and
the elan with which it advanced, under a heavy fire, to the position
assigned it. In fact, it gave proof in this engagement that its
materiel was as good as that of any of the regiments with which
it was associated, and from that day forward the Twenty-third
was admitted into the fullest confidence of the already battlebeaten men of the First Brigade.  Two promotions from the
ranks date from  this action, namely, Sergeant-Major John F.
McKee to be Second Lieutenant of Company C, and First Sergeant
Forrester L. Taylor, the junior First Sergeant of the regiment, to
be Second Lieutenant of Company G.
The regiment slept soundly on the field of battle, until relieved,
as already stated, on the following morning, when the men were
relieved in platoons, and fell back to the shelter of the bluff, where
the line was re-formed and marched to the old place of bivouac.
Here the command remained until the night of the 15th, when,
with the brigade, it re-crossed the river, Md on the 16th encamped
out of reach of the rebel fire-on the 20th reaching White Oak
Church, and going into winter-quarters.
The winter passed without any event of interest, beyond a
participation  in  the  "Mud March."  The hardships of this
famous march occasioned the loss of a number of men in this, as
in other regiments, and its effect in other respects was for a time




THE TWENTY-THIRD  REGIMENT.                           507
most depressing.:  But with  the accession of General Hooker io
the supreme command, and the introduction of needed  reforms in
the sanitary and commissary departments of the army, confidence
was gradually restored, and with  the dawn of spring, the Grand
Army of the Potomac was again prepared, if not eager, for active
operations.  Hooker, no less eager to grapple with the foe, late in
April ordered a forward movement, and the Twenty-third, with the
rest of the brigade, at once moved out from  its camp-on the 29th
crossing  the Rappahannock,4  three  miles below  Fredericksburg,
and taking position in the line of rifle-pits.  Here it remained until
the morning of the 3d of May, when, the remainder of the corps
having crossed, and Sedgwick being urged to advance to the relief
of Hooker at Chancellorsville, the  whole force advanced to the
assault of the Heights held by the  enemy.   Moving up to the
front, the men of the Twenty-third at first lay down on the ground,
the artillery playing over their heads, but in a short time, led by
the Colonel, moved by the left flank to the extreme left of the
position, where they were stationed as a support to the Fifteenth
Regiment, which  was ordered  to  deploy  as skirmishers on  the
extreme front.  Here, says one who participated in the engagement,
the men at once became exposed to a shower of missiles, and all: "This expedition that terminated so ingloriously occasioned us the loss of a great
many men. Our scanty hospital accommodations were tried to the utmost, and numbers of the sick were forwarded to Washington, while many of our dead were consigned to the earth. So numerous became the deaths that cracker-boxes, our only
lumber, could not be emptied fast enough to furnish the thin shells to enclose these
poor wrecks of humanity. The severity of the weather added much to the sufferings
of those forwarded to Washington, several of whom had the misfortune to have added
frozen limbs to their already almost unbearable physical suffering. The awful state of
the roads, I doubt not, jolted out the last flickering of life from the disease-stricken
frame of many a poor fellow that careful nursing and comforts of a home would have
saved from the stern clutches of death."-Notes of an officer.
4  Upon reaching our old crossing place and without waiting as before to establish
bridges, the gallant One Hundred and Nineteenth Pennsylvania was thrown into
boats, and under cover of Hexamer's Battery (those stern old Jersey guns, that were
always ready to speak to the enemy,) made a landing in the face of a severe fire of the
enemy, charged up the steep banks, captured all in the rifle-pits and made easy work
for the rest of us. We were hastily crowded into boats and rowed across, debarking
and forming into line; then climbing the precipitous bluff before us, we were again
face to face with the enemy. Here we lay for several days, each army watching the
other with unceasing vigilance; but with the exception of the frequent crack of the
rifle on the skirmish line and the occasional whistle of a shell from some anxious battery on the Heights beyond, all was quiet."-Notes of n officer.




508            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
the horrors of desperate battle were revealed to view. Soon the
terrible fire of the enemy began to take effect in the ranksCaptain Severs, of Company C, being badly wounded, and a
number of the men more or less seriously injured.  On the right,
the storming party was seen steadily advancing up the Heights;
and soon, breaking into a run, the whole line swept over the
works, and turning the guns upon the flying rebels, commanded
Fredericksburg and the Heights.  The enemy thus driven from
his position, the Twenty-third, with the brigade, was ordered to
advance, and moving rapidly through Fredericksburg, proceeded
some three miles along the plank road in the direction of Chancellorsville, steadily pushing the enemy before them until Salem
Church was reached.  A few rods behind this building, the main
body of the rebels were preparing to make a stand —the church
itself being converted into a sort of fortress and pierced with loopholes.  "Here," writes, an officer of the Twenty-third, "our skirmishers found it impossible to advance, and a charge being again
ordered, we passed over the skirmish line, climbed a fence, and
threw ourselves into the woods beyond and-a perfect hell of bullets. Here, owing to the confusion of crossing the fence, and the
prevailing noise, a misapprehension of orders occurred, causing
some delay, but General Brooks, apprised of the circumstance,
promptly set us right, and at the command'charge,' the regiment
pressed forward with cheers, up to the very walls cf the church
from which our men had been picked off with unerring aim.  The
One Hundred and Sixteenth New York was on our left, with the
Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania on its flank.  The charge was soon
checked, but the fight continued, the rebels meeting us with unyielding front, and answering our cheers with yells of defiance.
The carnage was dreadful, our men falling rapidly. At length the
extreme left began to give way and Zouave uniforms to mingle
with our line.  Still, however, other portions of the line continued
to fight on, General Bartlett, covered with a gorgeous uniform which
offered a shining mark for rebel bullets, spurring his horse up to
the extreme front, and cheering us on as he passed to the front
where the gallant Upton was holding his men steadily to their




THE TWENTY-THIRD REGIMENT.                 509
work.  But it was all in vain. Flesh and blood could not stand
the storm  of bullets; the gallant New Yorkers were gradually
forced back, and we were soon inextricably mingled in one confused mass of fugitives over whom it was impossible to exert any
control whatever. The officers used their utmost exertions to rally
the men, threatening and exhorting, but both were alike unavailing;
those willing to make a stand were borne back by the current, and
for nearly a quarter of a mile the rout was headlong and complete.
Then a rally was made without reference to regimental formation,
a line was formed, and a stand made, but only to be again broken.
A second time, half a mile from the battle-field, the line was formed,
and, after a sharp struggle, was finally held, the rebels falling back.
It was now nearly dark; the officers were busily engaged in reforming the regiments; pickets were soon thrown out and regiments detailed to hold the line, the remainder meanwhile retiring
still further to seek needed repose.
" On the following morning, the 4th, we fell back, with batteries
in line of battle and infantry in support, ready for the coming
fight. All day we lay here, our part of the line not being attacked
until late in the. afternoon, when a fierce assault was made, with
which, however, we had nothing to do. In this assault, the enemy
suffered terribly from our guns, his line seeming to melt away
before their discharges until nothing was left. Just before dark,
*one company from Qach regiment was ordered to be deployed as
skirmishers and thrown out one hundred yards in advance of the
line.  This detail was intended to be sacrificed, if necessary, to the
safety of the corps, for, just after dark, orders to begin the retreat
were given. The Twenty-third was among the regiments honored
with this detail as rear-guard. After the rest of the corps had
proceeded the required distance, we saw the artillery which had
been stationed with us, limber up and go to the rear at a round
trot, disappearing presently from view. At length, our orders
came, and at a double-quick we moved from the field. Once we
were halted, deployed, and preparations made for a combat in the
dark, but the rebels gave up the pursuit, being probably fearful of
an ambuscade, when our headlong retreat was resumed and con



510               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
tinued  until we arrived  in the vicinity of United  States Ford.
Here the enemy came up with us, and during the remainder of the
night maintained a desultory fire, but without any serious effect.
So exhausted were the men on their arrival at the Ford that they
threw  themselves on the ground without shelter or blankets, and
were almost immediately asleep.
" Just at dawn, on the 5th, we crossed the river, and about eight
o'clock halted for rest, still in  full view  of the enemy, who soon
opened fire, continuing it until noon-happily without inflicting
any damage.  Late in the afternoon, we received orders to return
to the river bank, to prevent the capture or burning of the pontoon
boats, which, though  swung  to  our side, it was impossible  to
remove from the water, owing to the sharp pursuit of the enemy.
Soon after taking position, rain began to fall, continuing during
the entire night, and gradually increasing in volume until it
seemed a very deluge.   The men, of course, suffered the greatest
discomfort, but with the morning the storm ceased, and a regiment
appearing to relieve us, we marched to our starting point, whence,
on the following day, we proceeded to White Oak Church, in the
vicinity of which we encamped, and for a brief season were permitted to rest.5
" On the last day of May we went out for a final tour of picketduty, returning to camp on the 3d of June.  All thought was now
turned homeward, and we were in hourly expectation of receiving
5 The following is the official report of the regimental action in this movement:
"I have the honor to report that my regiment left camp near White Oak Church at
three o'clock, p. m., April 28th, and bivouacked upon the bank of the Rappahannock,
which we crossed at daylight on the morning of the 29th.  My regiment was deployed
on the front at sunrise on the 29th, relieving the One Hundred and Twenty-first New
York.
"On Thursday the regiment was relieved; nothing special occurred on Friday or
Saturday.
" On Sunday, the 3d of May, I was again ordered to the front, and had one officer
and two men wounded from shells. About noon was ordered to follow the brigade,
and marched through Fredericksburg and about three miles out upon the plank road,
when I was again ordered to the fiont, to support the Second New Jersey Volunteers, skirmishing. As soon as my regiment emerged from the woods, I was opened
upon by a battery posted in the road, the second shot from which wounded an officer
and killed a man. Under the immediate orders of General Brooks, I advanced, keeping but a few paces in the rear of the skirmishers, and came upon the enemy posted in
a thick wood, and in a brick church. The nature of the ground was such that my line




THE TWENTY-THIRD REGIMENT.                          511
orders to march for Washington.  But hardly  had we returned
from picket, when it was rumored. that we were again to be sent
across the Rappahannock.  At first this was deemed incredible
but finally the inevitable' three days' cooked rations' were prepared and orders came to march at daylight the following  day.
Then the mutterings of discontent broke into open violence, and
threats of stacking arms were freely made.  Early in the  afternoon, the officers being assembled at Colonel Grubb's tent, he told
us that the prospects of a mutiny had assumed such proportions
that he could no longer refuse to take cognizance of it —that he
expected firmness on the part of the officers, and that they would
sustain him in the fullest manner in the discharge of his duty in
the premises.  He directed that when the assembly sounded, the
men should be formed without arms and marched to the parade
ground, there to be formed in hollow square, faced inwards, whereupon he would enter and address them.  This was done, the men
being for the most part sullen, some almost violent as they marched
to the ground. Colonel Grubb entered and after alluding to the
trouble, called their attention to the noble name the regiment had
gained on hard-fought fields, said it was his duty to care for and
keep untarnished this high reputation, and asked the men how they
could meet their mothers, wives and sweethearts, when the hooting
rabble should tell them they had twice been beaten by the enemy
and the third time were afraid to meet them? The appeal touched
was somewhat broken upon entering the woods, nevertheless my men engaged the
enemy with great spirit.
"Together with Colonel Upton, of the One Hundred and Twenty-first New York,
immediately upon my left, I made several efforts to drive the enemy from their position in and around the church, but (such was the severity of their fire) without sue,
cess; and several regiments upon my left giving way, 1 was compelled to fall back.
"Upon emerging from the woods, the fire was exceedingly deadly, and some confusion ensued, but I succeeded in re-forming, in rear of a battery, some five hundred
yards from the woods. My regiment was not actively enagced again, and the next
evening re-crossed the river at Banks' Ford.
"My officers all behaved nobly, but I desire to mention as conspicuous for their
coolness and gallantry, Major W. J. Parmentier and Adjutant Downs, also First Lieutenant F. L. Taylor, commanding Company II, who exhibited the most brilliant courage, leading his men several times to the fiont, under a most galling fire. Captain
Fenton, Company B, who in the absence of the Color-Sergeant bore the national colors,
also acted with the utmost coolness and courage.
"E. BURDD GRUBB, Colonel Twenty-third New Jersey Volunteers."




l2            SNEW JEIISEY AND THE REtELION+.
the men.  Cries were made,'We will go';' We are not afraid;''Three cheers for Colonel Grubb.' These were given with a will, but
the Colonel ordered silence, telling them he did not appear there for
cheers or applause; he came to remind the regiment of their duty,
to inform them he had received orders to march to again meet the
enemy; and he hoped it would prove an occasion that would eternally efface past defeats and reflect new honors on the command.
Finally, he declared that, having received his orders, the regiment,
or such of them as refusing to obey the order might be left alive,
would march at daylight of the coming morn.
"The regiment did march, as the Colonel said, proceeding to the
banks of the river, where it remained until the following day,
when it crossed, and under cover of the ensuing night threw up a
breastwork extending along the entire front of our position, in
front of the city and Heights of Fredericksburg.  The enemy,
immediately upon discovering us, opened fire, but without inflicting
any loss.  Each day still further strengthened our works, and a
couple of sandbag batteries for the mounting of some heavy guns
were fast approaching completion, when, finally, orders came for
our return to Beverly, to be mustered out.  Accordingly, we recrossed the Rappahannock, and marched directly to Falmouth,
going thence by rail to Belle Plain Landing, and from that point
by steamer to Washington.  In due time, Beverly was reached,
amid general acclamations, and the men separated on furlough,
awaiting the completion of the preparations for muster-out."
But the Twenty-third was to see further service before it was
finally disbanded. Late in June the country was startled by the
news of Lee's advance into Pennsylvania, and the supposed danger
of Harrisburg, the Capital of the State. Then, a few days later,
came the stirring proclamation of Governor Parker, appealing to
the people and regiments not yet disbanded, or in process of formation, to hasten to the aid of a sister State.  When this appeal was
issued, less than half of the members of the Twenty-third were in
camp, but Colonel Grubb promptly ordered the " assembly," and
asked all who would follow him to step two paces to the front.
Not a man hesitated.  Transportation was at once telegraphed for,




1HE TWENTY-THIRD REGJtMENT.                     513
but it was late in the day before it was furnished.  In the dusk of
the evening, the regiment landed at Walnut street wharf, in Philadelphia, andpreceded by a band, marched through the crowded
streets, greeted at every step by peals of cheers, to the Harrisburg
depot, whence, it being impossible to procure transportation, it
proceeded to the corner of Twenty-seventh and Market streets,
where it was quartered for the night. On the following morning,
after some delay and a great deal of trouble, Colonel Grubb succeeded in procuring a train of coal-cars, in which the men were
stowed as comfortably as possible, and so carried  to Harrisburg,
now supposed to be closely menaced by the rebels. Reaching the
city, however, the men who had been so eager to get on, found no
excitement whatever, much to their surprise.  The Twenty-third
was the first regimental organization to reach the city, but strangely
enough, it was coolly rather than enthusiastically received by the
people whom it had made such haste to defend.6 Soon after arriving, the regiment was taken out to the river front and set at work
in throwing up rifle-pits to prevent the passage of the river, which
at this time was very shallow.  Here the men worked steadily,
from the Colonel down, but before the labor was completed, orders
were received directing the return of the regiment to Beverly, and
accordingly, the command, without regret, quitted the inhospitable
Capital.  Reaching Beverly, it remained until the 27th of June,
when it was finally dissolved, and the men who had fought and
suffered in its ranks, went their several ways.
New  Jersey may well be proud of the record of the gallant
regiment whose services are here but imperfectly narrated.  In
every action in which it was called upon to take part it exhibited
distinguished gallantry, and in its ranks, sadly thinned by the casualties of the field, were soldiers whose names deserve to be written
6 "We were very coolly treated, and if we wanted to purchase anything, were
charged extra prices. Our men were refused canteens of water by the citizens, and
one person who did not conceal his secession proclivities came very near being'torn
out,' so exasperated were our troops at his undisguised sympathy with the rebels. It
required all Colonel Grubb's influence to prevent violence. The fellow at last procured
a flag, hung it out, promised to behave himself in future, and was finally let off, a pretty
badly scared man, who took good care not to ventilate any more disunion sentiments
during the occupancy of the city by the Jersey Blues."-Notes of an officer.
65




514            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
side by side with the best and noblest of the Republic.  Many of
the officers and men again, in other organizations, met the nation's
foe and fought through the war, some attaining high and deserved
promotion.  The Thirty-seventh New Jersey was largely composed
of members of the Twenty-third, and numbers would have joined
the Thirty-fourth had Colonel Grubb accepted the command when
it was tendered to him. The Fortieth also drew many of its members from the same noble organization.  The Third Cavalry took
many more, while numbers still re-enlisted in the older regiments,
and earned fresh distinction on later fields.




CHAPTER  XVIII.
THE TWENTY-FOURTH REGIMENT.
TIHE  Twenty-fourth  Regiment was mustered  into  the United
States service at Camp  Cadwallader, Beverly, on  the  16th  of
September, 1862.1 Four companies of the regiment, B, F, G and
H, were from  the county of Cumberland; three, A, C and K, from
Salem; one, (E,) and parts of D and I, from Gloucester, and the
remaining men of the two latter companies from  Camden.  Of the
members of Company  B, about an equal number were enlisted
from  the city  and  township  of Millville and  the township  of
Maurice River.  Of Company F, the city of Bridgeton furnished
about thirty, the  township  of Greenwich  fifteen, while the re1 The original roster of the regiment was as follows:
Colonel, William B. Robertson; Lieutenant-Colonel, Franklin L. Knighlt; Major, Joel
A. Fithian; Adjutant, Thomas F. G. Cooper; Quartermaster, Samuel R. Fithian;
Surgeon, William  S. Newell; Assistant Surgeons, Alban Williams, Thomas G.
Rowand; Chaplain, William C. Stockton.  Company A-Captain, Howard Bassett;
First Lieutenant, Milton Wright; Second Lieutenant, William N. Hancock. Company
B-Captain, George E. Dunlap; First Lieutenant, James Smith; Second Lieutenant,
B. Reed Brown. Company C-Captain, John T. Garwood; First Lieutenant, Thomas
Simpkins; Second Lieutenant, Jonathan E. Moore.  Company D-Captain, Aaron
Ward; First Lieutenant, David W. Bartine; Second Lieutenant, George D. Brittain.
Company E-Captain, Augustus Sailer; First Lieutenant, Edward C. Cattell; Second
Lieutenant, Charles W. Wilkins. Company F-Captain, Samuel Harris; First Lieutenant, Elijah Husted; Second Lieutenant, William. B. Pepper. Company G-Captain,
James R. Hoagland; First Lieutenant, Charles M. Pease; Second Lieutenant, Robert
B. Potter. CompanyJ  -Captain, Henry Neff; First Lieutenant, Alexander Robeson;
Second Lieutenant, James J. Reeves. Company I-Captain, William C. Shinn; First
Lieutenant, John 0. Crowell; Second Lieutenant, James S. Woodward. Company
K-Captain, John S. Locke; First Lieutenant, Daniel Brown; Second Lieutenant,
James P. Butler.
It must be recorded to the credit of the county of Cumberland and more especially of
the city of Bridgeton, that the promptness with which they responded to the call
for volunteers was beyond all precedent. It is doubtful whether any company, outside
of our large cities, was ever raised so rapidly as Company IH, of Bridgeton. The
Philadelphia Evening Bulletin made mention of this fact as follows:
"TRoops RAISED SPEEDILY.-The Evening Bidletin, of Monday, contained an item
claiming peerlessness for the town of Lawrence, Massachusetts, for having raised a




516               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
mainder, with the exception of one from  Deerfield, were equally
divided between Hopewell and Doune.  Of Company G, not less
than twenty were from  Bridgeton, thirty  from  Deerfield, ten from
Stoe Creek, while the rest hailed  from   Doune.   Company  H,
officered exclusively by Bridgeton men, comprised about seventyfive from the city of Bridgeton, while the remainder were from
Hopewell, Deerfield and Stoe Creek.  In  Companies A  and C,
there were a large number of men from  the city of Salem; the
surrounding  townships, however, were nearly all represented in
them, and also  in  Company  K.   Company  E  comprised  men
principally from  Woodbury, Paulsboro', and the upper townships
of Gloucester.   Company  D  had  men from  Camden, Gloucester
City, and Glassboro', and Company I, mainly from  Clayton township, in Gloucester County, and several of the townships of Camden
County.
On the 28th  of September, the regiment was equipped  with
Belgian rifles and other necessary accoutrements for service, and on
Tuesday, the 30th, broke camp and departed for Washington, going
company of one hundred and thirteen men in a day and a half. I beg leave to make
the statement that Lawrence has been outdone by Bridgeton, New Jersey, a town of
less than one-fourth the population of the very patriotic New England city. On Friday morning last, a recruiting station was opened for the formation of a new company,
officered as follows: Henry Neff, Captain; Alexander L. Robeson, First Lieutenant;
and James J. Reeves, Second Lieutenant. That day eighty men-many of them fine,
stalwart fellows from the iron factories-enlisted under their banner, and by the next
evening their company numbered one hundred and ten men. While this was being
done, two companies were rapidly filling up in the same town. It is a question
whether Bridgeton can find its peer among all the towns of its size in the loyal
North."
Three of the members of this company were brothers, sons of Mrs. Elizabeth Ayars,
a widow lady residing in Bridgeton, who had five sons and two sons-in-law in the.
Union army.
In Company G there were five brothers, sons of Mrs. Martha Cobb, a widow, rcsiding in the township of Doune.
For two weeks previous to the date of muster at Beverly, the several companies of
the regiment found temporary quarters in unoccupied buildings in different portions
of the town; some in private houses, others in the Beverly Bank building and others
still in an old brick factory near the railroad. During this time the commissioned
officers were elected and the non-commissioned officers appointed, as above given.
The headquarters of the commissioned officers of the regiment while at Beverly, were
at the fine mansion in the westerly part of the village, kept as a military boardinghouse by Mrs. Hardcastle. Here they received all the attention and care that this estimable lady and her kind-hearted daughters could bestow. During the month, several
excursions were made to the regiment from different localities, bringing friends from
home, and the season was one of great enjoyment.




THE TWENTY-FOURTH REGIMENT.                   517
by steamer to Philadelphia and thence by rail. Both at Philadelphia and Baltimore, the men were handsomely entertained at the
Union Refreshment Rooms. The regiment remained in Baltimore,
without other resting-place than the brick pavements, from midnight of the 30th until ten o'clock on the night of October 1st,
when it proceeded to Washington, reaching that city on the morning of the 2d, and going into camp on East Capitol Hill. Its encampment at this place was named " Camp Ingham," in honor of
an esteemed and patriotic citizen of Salem, Jonathan Ingham,
Esq. Here the regiment was temporarily brigaded with the Twenty-second, Twenty-ninth and Thirty-first New Jersey Regiments,
under the charge of Brigadier General Abercrombie, and participated daily in regimental and brigade drills until the 14th, when
it moved into Virginia, encamping near Chain Bridge,2 whence, on
the 18th, it was transferred to a more eligible position a few miles
distant. Here the camp, known as " Camp Kearney," was located
on the summit of a hill, at the foot of which on the one side rumbled the rapids of the Potomac, while on the other side run the
Leesburg pike, winding its way through forests of chestnut, hickory and red oak.  The regiment was here brigaded with the
Twenty-eighth New Jersey and One Hundred and Twenty-eighth
Pennsylvania Regiments, under the Colonel of the former, acting
Brigadier-General Abercrombie having command of the divisionthe Twenty-fourth occupying the extreme right of the brigade on
the Leesburg road. On the 20th, the first detail for picket was
made, and on the 22d, a school of instruction for officers was instituted by Lieutenant-Colonel Knight. Up to this date the regiment
had lost but two men by death, and in both cases sickness had
been brought on by imprudence and self-neglect.  The regiment
remained at this point, doing picket and fatigue duty, including the
digging of trenches at forts Ethan Allen and Marcy, until Saturday, the 25th, when it again moved its camp to a point some two
miles southward-naming the encampment, in honor of the county
which furnished the largest number of troops in the regiment,
2 This camp was named "Camp Nixon," in honor of Hon. John T. Nixon, of
Bridgeton.




518           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
" Camp Cumberland."  On the 27th, the regiment was reviewed by
Brigadier General Abercrorabie, after which the command remained
comparatively idle until General Burnside assumed command of
the Army of the Potomac, when it, in common with all other regi-,
ments in the vicinity, received marching orders.  Shelter tents
were drawn, and with five days' rations, the regiment on the 1st of
December set out for its destination. Lieutenant James J. Reeves,
of Company H, was detached from the regiment to take charge of
the camp, including the sick, having instructions to turn over the
Sibley and other tents to the Quartermaster-General in Washington
and to find transportation for the company books, cooking utensils
and the necessary baggage of the officers. Passing through Washington, the regiment crossed the east bank of the Potomac and
encamped the first night in the woods, four miles from the Capital.
On tke 2d, after another march of fifteen miles, it encamped near
Piscataway, Saint George's County, Maryland.  On the 3d, the
supply of rations failed, and after the regiment had halted for the
night, foraging parties sallied out on an expedition, returning with
a good supply of confiscated property with which to appease their
hunger. On the 4th the brigade, led by the Twenty-fourth, passed
through Port Tobacco and encamped in the woods two or three
miles from the village; the next day about noon, reaching Liverpool
Point in the midst of a cold, dismal, drenching rain-storm. Here
part of the troops found passage across Aquia Creek to the landing,
in the steamer Saint Nicholas (the boat captured by Thomas, the
"French Lady,") and part on canal boats. The storm  now increased in violence and intensity; rain was succeeded by snow and
sleet; but the men still struggled on, and at length cold, wet and
hungry, encamped for the night, making themselves as comfortable
as possible with no other bed than the slush and mud, and no better protection from the cold and storm than a single blanket and
the half of a shelter tent above them. Sunday (the 8th,) passed
with but little improvement in the situation.  On Monday, the
regiment marched some eight or ten miles, and on Tuesday, after a
further march, encamped upon a high hill not over a mile from the
village of Falmouth.  Here it was permanently brigaded with the




ItE TWWENTY-FOURTI REGIMENT.               519
Fourth and Eighth Ohio, Fourteenth Indiana, Seventh Virginia
and Twenty-eighth New Jersey Regiments under the charge of
Brigadier-General Kimball, in French's Division, Couch's (Second)
Corps.  On Wednesday the arms were inspected, sixty rounds of
cartridges supplied and three days' rations issued to each man. On
Thursday morning at four o'clock, orders were received to strike
tents, roll them  up with blankets, leave knapsacks and stand in
readiness to march at a moment's notice. Burnside was ready to
strike. Long before day-break the booming of the heavy artillery
from our batteries which had opened upon Fredericksburg signaled
that the work had commenced, and without delay the brigade
marched towards the point of assault-halting at length in a deep
ravine, a mile from the city, where, listening to the noise of the
combat as it grew louder and wilder, it remained until sunset.
Then it was marched down to a plain opposite the city, but was
soon, on account of the storm of shells, forced to fall back to the
side of a hill in a strip of woods, where it encamped for the night.
The next morning at sunrise, the enemy having evacuated the town,
the brigade crossed the Rappahannock on the pontoon bridges at
double-quick, marched into the main street, and there, stacking
arms, spent the day and night awaiting orders.  Early on Friday
morning, the 12th, preparations for an assault were ordered, and
the men being drawn up in line, were addressed by General Kimball.  "Boys," he said, "we are the attacking brigade.  I shall
expect you to go ahead and open the fight. Keep steady, aim low,
and let every man do his duty. Remember you are Jerseymen."
The attack, however, was not then made, as anticipated, being for
some reason postponed until the following day. In the evening,
two companies, F and G, were sent out as picket on the outskirts
of the town, but were called in at eight o'clock on Saturday morning, when preparations were at once made for the attack. The
Fourth and Eighth Ohio were deployed as skirmishers to drive in
the rebel pickets, when Kimball's Brigade, headed by the Twentyfourth, marched in column at double-quick out of the streets of
Fredericksburg into the fields in the rear of the city. Here another
order was given to the men to relieve themselves of blankets and




520             N'EW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLIONS
tents, which being done, and the brigade coming into position, the
whole division charged at double-quick across a ditch and over a
muddy corn-field against the rebel works, with a view of taking
their batteries at the point of the bayonet.  But the assault, though
gallantly made, was a costly one; from the rifle-pits in front came
the murderously-aimed bullets of the sharpshooters, and from  the
stone walls the unceasing firing of the infantry, while from the
heavy batteries, tier above tier, planted behind strong field-works
on the top of the hill, a furious storm of shot, shell and shrapnel
poured into the advancing ranks.  One by one the brave boys of
the Twenty-fourth, fell wounded and dead; but still the line swept
on, the men now loading and firing as they went, picking off here
and there a rebel as he showed himself above the works.  But in
a contest so unequal, success was impossible, and bravely as the
assailants pushed the assault, they could not carry the works.  No
troops, indeed, advanced nearer to the defences at that point-save
the Irish regiments-than Kimball's Brigade, and for that they
received the thanks and applause of the Commanding General; but
gallantry such as theirs deserved a more complete success than this.
They did not, however, abandon the ground, but held it tenaciously
until relieved. Even then, the men could not withdraw to the
rear, being compelled to seek refuge in and about the neighboring
buildings or lie down at full length upon the ground, still exposed
to the deadly bullets or the burning fragments of bursting shells.
Here the regiment remained, unable to soothe the wounded or comfort the dying, until darkness curtained the scene of carnage. The
loss of the regiment, which behaved admirably throughout, was
severe, amounting in all to one hundred and sixty, as follows:
Company A, 2 killed, 13 wounded; Company B, 3 killed, 15 wounded; Company C,
16 wounded, 5 missing; Company D, 3 killed, 12 wounded, 3 missing; Company E,
2 killed, 4 wounded, 7 missing; Company F, 1 killed, 6 wounded, 5 missing; Company G, 2 killed, 20 wounded, 3 missing; Company H, 1 killed, 5 wounded, 2 missing;
Company I, 2 killed, 16 wounded, 1 missing; Company K, 8 wounded, 3 missing. Of
those reported as wounded a number subsequently died, while many of those reported
missing have never been heard from.
The instances of special gallantry in the regiment in this memorable engagement, were numerous, but cannot, obviously, be mentioned in detail here. Sergeant Henry S. Spaulding, Company B,




TrIHE TWENTY-FOURTHI REGIMENT.            521
afterwards promoted to the Second Lieutenancy of Company I,
received a musket ball in his shoulder; Captain Aaron Ward,
Company D, a ball through his left lung; Second Lieutenant George
D. Brittain, Company D, and Captain Samuel Harris, Company
F, were shocked by explosions of shells; Second Lieutenant William Pepper, Company F, was wounded in leg and head; Sergeant
H. R. Pierson, Company G, afterwards promoted to Second Lieutenant, Company F, was wounded in the side; Sergeant John
Springer, Company B, afterwards Second Lieutenant of Company
B, wounded in the hip; Second Lieutenant James J. Reeves, Company H, wounded in the left arm above the elbow; and Captain William C. Shinn, Company I, was wounded in the right eye, the sight
of which is lost. Second Lieutenant R. B. Potter, Company G,
narrowly escaped-a ball having struck his watch, glanced off,
and wadded itself in a glove in his pocket. First Lieutenant John
0. Crowell, who had for several weeks acted as Adjutant of the
regiment, early in the engagement received a severe wound in his
arm, but brave to the last, still rallied forward his men until a fatal
bullet prostrated him instantly to the ground. The regiment sustained a heavy loss in the death of this young and gallant Lieutenant. Few men possessed in a greater degree the requisite qualifi
cations of a good soldier and popular officer. Energetic and
prompt, cordial yet dignified, kind-hearted and complacent but
always decided-he exhibited at the same time an unflinching
patriotism that nothing could appal or turn from the path of duty.
The officers of the regiment, at a meeting held soon after the battle,
passed appropriate resolutions concerning his death, which were
duly published and forwarded to his afflicted family.
The firing of the enemy ceased at nightfall, and not until then
could any assistance be afforded the wounded or any attempt made
to ascertain the number of the dead. And even then, though the
night was spent in diligent search for friends supposed to be among
the wounded or killed, many remained from whom no tidings could
be obtained, and of whom it only could be said that they were
" missing."  Among those who were thus recorded was Lieutenant
Alexander L. Robeson. Having the charge of his company in the
66




522              NEW  JERSEY AND TItE REBELLION
Captain's absence, he bravely led them  forward never to return.
Though a faithful and often-repeated search was made for him, as
long as such search could be allowed, no tidings were received, nor
has any positive intelligence since been obtained concerning him.
The members of his company loved him as a brother, and his men
were equally dear to him.  IIe looked faithfully after all their
wants and sympathized with them unfailingly in all their sufferings.
He was especially endeared to his fellow officers, who esteemed him
for his intelligence and excellent judgment, and loved him  for his
virtues and exemplary Christian character.3
On Monday following the engagement the regiment re-crossed the
river, and returned to Camp Knight, with but few blankets and still
fewer shelter tents, having lost nearly all in the engagement.  The
fatigue and exposure naturally occasioned much sickness, and on
tlhe 30th of Decemnber, the entire regiment reported for duty only
tlirteen officers and two hundred and seventy men.
During, the month of January, the regiment remained in camp,
engaged in various routine duties —not participating in the "Mud
March" projected and undertaken by General Burnside.  On the
20th of February it removed to a new and more comfortable camp,
named "Camp RI obertson" in honor of the Colonel, and for some
weeks subsequently performed picket-duty along the Rappahannock opposite Fredericksburg, having headquarters at the Lacy
House.  This fine old mansion, whose owner was a Colonel in the
Rebel Army, was also the headquarters of the United States Sanitary Commission.  Throughout the winter, the excellent ladies
connected  with this and the Christian  Commission, prominent
among whom was Mrs. MarTy Harris, of Philadelphia, in addition
to administering to the temporal wants of the cold and hungry
soldiers, held daily evening prayer-meetings in a spacious room  at
the west end of the building, which were attended by crowds of
3 A note from an officer of the regiment says:
"Among the most indefatigable in looking after and administering to the wants of
the sick and wounded of the regiment after the battle was our faithful Chaplain,
Rev. William C. Stockton. Nor can too much commendation be awarded to our
Surgeon, Doctor W. S. Newell and his assistants, Doctors Williams and Rowand, and
likewise to Doctor Jesse B. McBride, who was detached from Company F to act as
Hospital-Steward, and who was engaged all day Sunday in attending to the wounded."




THE TWENTY-FOURTH REGI.MENT.                               523
soldiers from  the humblest private to the Division and Corps Commanders.   More frequent in attendance than  any  other officer of
rank was Major-General Ioward, the Christian patriot and soldier.
A  limited  number  of visitors were  now  allowed  in camp  and
furloughs for ten (lays granted with moderation.   Boxes containing
necessaries and luxuries from  home were daily received, much  to
the delight of the men.    On  the  27th  of February dress-parade
was resumed, and a few  days after General Hooker reviewed  his
Grand Division.   On  the  10th  of March, an  attack  being  antici4 The following from the diary of a member of the regiment gives a glimpse of tlle
daily life of the regiment during this period:
"January 2d. Detail for picket-duty from our regiment two officers and thirty-one
men. Stationed about two miles westward from camp.
"January 6th. Major Fithian arrived in camp after a long absence in Washington,
occasioned by sickness. Warm days and cold, frosty nights prove prejudicial to the
health of the soldiers, and a large number continue to report daily on the sick list.
"January 9th. Regiment was out on battalion drill for the first time since we left
Camp Cumberland; numbered about three hundred men.
"Sunday, January 11th. Prayer-meeting held in the wagoner's tent, conducted by
the Chaplain.
"January 13th. Robert Du Bois, Esq., of Bridgeton, arrived in camp about midnight, bringing witlh him two large boxes and a barrel containing articles for the regiment from the Ladies' Aid Society of Bridgeton, and many other things marked for
private individuals. The following morning, 14th, the boxes were taken to the hospital tent and opened. Besides articles of clothing and delicacies for the sick, consisting of blankets, pillows, sheets, drawers, mittens, stockings, &c., cakes, crackers,
jellies, preserves, pickles, canned fruits, meats, &c., for the hospital, there were ma1ny
other valuable articles from friends at home, principally for the Cumberland County
boys. Mir. Du Bois, also, out of the overilowing generosity of his heart, distributed
among the boys a barrel of apples, besides a quantity of tobacco, cigars and other useful articles, for which and many other acts of kindness lec received the merited name
of'the soldier's friend.'  To the Ladies' Aid Society of Bridgeton, who at another
time previous to this forwarded a similar supply to our regiment, which were made
use of in Washington, the especial thanks of the regiment are due.
"January 16th. Orders received in camp to be in readiness to move the following
morning.
"January 17th. The marching orders proved to be orders to prepare for a grand
review of the Second Army Corps by Major-General Burnside, which took place on the
common near General Hancock's headquarters.
"Sunday, January 18th.  The funeral of private W. J. Richards, of Company F,
took place this afternoon.  I-Ic was buried with the usual military honors in a pleasant
spot selected as the burial-ground of the regiment, on the top of the adjacent hill.
The companies assembled at the hospital tent and slowly wound their way to the spot
which was to be the last resting place of the departed soldier. A few appropriate
remarks were made by Rev. Mr. Tallis, a minister visiting one of the camps in the
neighborhood, and a prayer offered by our Chaplain. This was followed by the volley
of musketry fired over the grave, when the companies were conducted back to their
quarters. The deceased was personally unknown to me; I can only record that hle was
a faithful soldier.
"January 19th. Orders to move were repeated. Part of Franklin's and Hooker's




52!-               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
pate(l the regiment was placed under arms, but was not called into
action,.   On  the 14th, the men  were supplied  with  Springfield
forces moved forward towards the river on the right of us, passing our encampment in
the front and rear.
"January 20th. Sergeant Rounds, of Company B, died in the regimental hospital,
an(i was buried at night by the side of private Richards, of Company F.
"January 21st. Dreary day. Roads almost impassable, yet thousands of troops
have been passing beyond us from the front and rear all day. The pontoons arrived
on the road near our camp last night, but could go no further. The batteries' also
moved towards the river with great difficulty. Commenced raining in the afternoon
and continues with vehemence.
"January 2-d. Rain continues. Roads in a terrible condition.  Little hope of
progressing with the vast army over the Rappahannock. The river has risen, and the
troops are falling back.
"January 23d. Cleared away beautifully about noon, but alas! what quantities of
mud. The entire army fell back to its original position. The boys are singing' Burnside's army lies floundering in the mud,' to the tune of'Glory Hallelujah.' The
troops in the retreat scattered like sheep over the hills and valleys, and many poor
fellows, weary from marching and exposure, and soaked through with rain, lagged
behind their regiments, only to be overtaken and hurried on their march by Rush's
troop of lancers.
" Sunday, January 25th. The sick in our hospital, thirtyin number, were removed in
ambulances to the general hospital, at Windmill Point, near Aquia Creek Landing.
The funeral of Hugh White, of Company C, who died of typhoid pneumonia, took
place to-day.
" January 26th. General Burnside turned over the command of the army to General
Hooker. Alexander Ryan, of Company H, died at Windmill Point Hospital, to which he
was removed yesterday-an aggravated case of typhoid fever.
"January 29th. Snow on the ground a foot in depth. A romantic wedding was celebrated at an old house on our picket-line, between the Drum-Major of the Fifty-third
Pennsylvania Regiment and a simple-minded, pretty young Southern girl, about
seventeen. I have since learned-be it said to his everlasting shame and disgrace-that
he is already married at home. Corporal James Elwell, of Company H, died at Wind.
mill Point Hospital. He was a good officer, and faithful soldier and friend.
" January 31st. Paymaster made his appearance in camp. Great rejoicing among the
boys. Regiment received pay for two months, lacking a day. From the amount paid
to Company H, the boys sent home over one thousand dollars. Company B, being
next highest on the list, sent home nine hundred and fifty-five dollars. Colonel Coolk
of Trenton, carried home the money for them.
" February 3d. Order received that two out of every one hundred men reporting for
duty should have a furlough for ten days, which created much joy throughout the
regiment.
"February 4th. Regiment resumed company and battalion drills. Last night was
considered, without exception, the coldest of the campaign.
"February 7th. The boys of the various companies visited the new camping ground,
afterwards known as' Camp Robertson,' bearing that name in honor of our excellent
Colornel.
"February 8th. Major General Couch, commanding our corps, visited the regiment
Came to examine the hospital and visit the sick. William Tinker, of Company B, was
buried at our regimental burying-ground to-day.
"February 10th. Colonel Robertson having been assigned to the command of the
brigade, Major Fithian commanded the regiment.
"February 12th.  Order read on dress-parade, furnishing soft bread four times a
week."




THE TWENTY-FOURTH  RiEGIMENT.                          525
rifled muskets, and  a week later the following promotions were
announced: First Lieutenant Simpkins, of Company A, to be Captain of the same company; Second Lieutenant Hancock, of Company A, to  be First Lieutenant of Company I; Sergeant-Major
Thompson, to be Second Lieutenant of Company A; Orderly-Sergeant Barracliff' of Company F, to be Sergeant-Major.5
At length spring opened, and with it active service was resumed.
On the 28th of April, the Twenty-fourth Regiment, with the rest
of the brigade, broke camp, and on the following day, crossed the
Rappahannock at United States Ford, where it remained until the
afternoon of the 30th, when, after a march of six hours, it halted
in a corn-field near Chancellorsville.  At this time, our army was
rapidly concentrating  at this point, and General Hooker already
congratulated himself as having  the enemy  within  his clutch,
prematurely issuing an order in which he announced that " certain
destruction" awaited the army of Lee. But while the combatants
were marshaling their forces, and now and then coming in collision, the Twenty-fourth Regiment remained inactive, Kimball's
(now  Carroll's) Brigade being held in reserve, and it was not until
Sunday, the 3.d of May, that the command became actually  engaged.  On that day, heavy firing commenced at an early hour
all along our lines, and for hours the Twenty-fourth  was exposed
to the incessant shelling of the enemy, who, having the advantage
of our forces, approached  its position  nearer and  nearer.   At
5 About this time an order was issued for the honorable discharge of Captain Garwocd, of Company A. The following notes ielates to a memorable incident of the
regimental experience about this time:
"Thursday, April Sd, was an eventful day in camp. Copies of the infamo us'Peace
Resolutions,' passed by the New Jersey Legislature, having been received and pretty
generally read, the soldiers of the Twenty-fourth assembled in convention and unanimously passed a series of resolutions severely condemning the action of the Legislature. Speeches were made by Colonel W. B. Robertson, Chaplain Stockton, Surgeon
W. S. Newell, Captain R. S. Thompson and Lieutenant W. E. Potter, of the Twelfth
New Jersey, and Lieutenants C. W. Wilkins, D. W. Bartine and J. J. Reeves. This
was one of the finest meetings ever held in the Army of the Potomac, &c.
"Sunday, April 19th. Funeral services of Private Chamberlain, of Company 1, conducted by the C laplain.
" Monday, 20th. Captain Sailer detailed to sit as a member, and Lieutenant Reeves;
as Judge Advocate, of Brigade Court-Martial.  The charges preferred during this
session were all against members of other regiments. Major Wilson, of the Twentyeighth New Jersey, acted as President." —Notes of an officer.




526            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
length, a flank movement being attempted by a part of Stonewall
Jackson's forces, Carroll's Brigade was ordered into a dense thicket
to relieve another command which had been sent in to repulse the
foe-the men being directed to lie down with muskets half-cocked,
in readiness to fire as occasion might demand.  The enemy, however, being in superior force, and having a more accurate knowledge of the ground, suddenly assailed the brigade with great
violence, both on the front and flank, compelling it, after firing but
a few rounds, to retreat to the open ground, where it found protection from further assault, our heavy guns opening vigorously
upon the rebels, and preventing their advance.  In this affair,
Colonel Robertson was in command of the regiment, and acted
with great steadiness.  Major Fithian, who had been  detached
from the regiment to act as aid to General French, manifested
much gallantry, and received merited praise from the Commanding
General.  The loss in killed and wounded in the regiment was
comparatively small. Lieutenant John Springer, of Company B,
(but recently promoted,) received a severe wound in his right thigh,
from the effects of which he died. Corporal John Chapman, of
Company A, also received a ball in his thigh. Sergeant Heritage,
of Company B, was killed.  Captain James Smith, of the same
company, received a ball in his left leg, Lieutenant James J.
Reeves, of Company II, a ball in the left hand and wrist, and
Sergeant Carll, of the same company, a ball in the right leg. The
losses did not exceed forty, all told, in killed, wounded and missing.
The withdrawal of the army having been determined upon, the
Twenty-fourth, with the rest of the brigade, made its way back to
the United States Ford, whence, having crossed on the 6th, it proceeded to its old camp, where it continued to do picket-duty until
ordered to Washington. Proceeding thence to Beverly, in due
time the regiment was mustered out of service, and the men, as
they were paid off, returned to their homes. At Bridgeton, Salem,
Millville and elsewhere, public receptions were tendered to the
home-coming companies; and so, amid the salutations and rejoicings of friends and kindred, the soldiers of the Twenty-fourth,
having faithfully discharged their duty on every field to which




THE TWENTY-FOURTII REGIMENT.                 527
they were called, dropped contentedly into the old paths, and
occupied once more the places they had filled before their feet
turned battle-ward.  The losses of the command had been severe,
but the dead had fallen in a holy cause, and from  their ashes, and
those of all our martyred ones, a rich crop of blessings shall yet
spring up, enriching generations to come.




CHAPTER XIX.
THE  TWENTY-FIFTH   REGIMENT.
AMONG- the nine months' regiments sent to the fieid from  New
Jersey, few performed more signal service, or made a finer record
than the Twenty-fifth.  The regiment, composed about equally of
citizens of the northern and southern sections of the State, was
fortunate in securing as its commander a man of thorough soldierly
qualifications, combined with great energy and force of character,
whose heart was in the work in which he was engaged, and who,
enjoying the entire confidence of his command, was able to make
it, in the highest degree, useful and efficient.'  The men, moreover,
composing the regiment, were of the best class, whether as to intelligence or personal physique, and adapted themselves readily and
cheerfully to all the requirements of the service.
The Twenty-fifth left its camp at Beverly on the 10th of October, 1862, and arrived at Washington on the following day.  Going
into camp at Capitol Hill, it was assigned to the Second Brigade of
Casey's Division, consisting of the Twenty-seventh New Jersey,
Twelfth and Thirteenth Vermont and Twelfth Massachusetts Battery-Colonel Derrom being placed in temporary command of the
1 Colonel Andrew Derrom was appointed Chairman of the War Committee of Paterson, entrusted with the raising of troops under the call of 1862, and through his
exertions, supported by those of the Committee, the first quota of Passaic County
was filled in fourteen days after it was announced. In the call for nine months' men,
he raised the quota of the county, five hundred men, in two days, being obliged to
refuse many who offered in excess of the number desired. He then, desiring to see
the five companies properly placed, proceeded with them to Trenton, and succeeded
in having them consolidated with five companies from the southern part of the State,
then in camp at Beverly. The officers of the regiment thereupon unanimously elected
him Colonel, and although his business-that of an architect and builder-needed his
personal superintendence, he promptly accepted the position, joining the command on
two days' notice, and addressing himself at once with vigor and enthusiasm to the
work of promoting its discipline and efficiency. Fortunately, he had for many years




THE TAWENTY-FIFTIt REGIMENT.                       529
brigade. Early in November the regiment was dispatched to Fairfax Seminary, Virginia, where it was for a short time engaged on
picket-duty, but on the 30th of that month, receiving marching
orders, proceeded to Aquia Creek, a distance of eighty miles. The
conduct of the command during this march, which was one of great
difficulty, a snow-storm prevailing during a part of the time, was
admirable, eliciting the special commendation of the Colonel.
Aquia Creek was reached on the 8th, the regiment crossing the
Potomac in transports from  Liverpool Point, and on the following
day proceeding directly to Falmouth, where it was assigned to the
First Brigade, Third Division, Ninth Army Corps.  Here, though
wearied by a long march, the regiment was at once called  into
active service.  On the morning of the 11th, General Burnside,
having completed his plans for a demonstration, opened his batteries upon Fredericksburg, under cover of which pontoons were
thrown across the river, and our troops pushed over and occupied
the town, the enemy slowly retiring to his works on the Heights.
The Ninth Corps lying immediately opposite Fredericksburg, was
particularly exposed to the enemy's fire, but crossed with great
gallantry, the First Brigade of the Third Division being the second
to occupy the place, one of its regiments crossing some time before
the bridges were laid.  The Twenty-fifth immediately upon reachng the south bank, threw  out pickets along the streets, and so
remained until the morning of the 13th, when the Ninth Corps
went into action. The duty before this corps was arduous and dangerous, being to attack the enemy advantageously posted in the
woods and hills lying back of Fredericksburg, and where he had
enjoyed the benefit of the information and experience of his father, who was in the
British service, and he was on this account peculiarly qualified, either as an organizer
or disciplinarian, for the position to which he was chosen. During the Whole period
of service, he performed every duty laid upon him with marked efficiency and acceptance, and returned from the field, at the expiration of the term of enlistment, only
more esteemed by his men than when he first assumed command. As exhibiting the
estimate in which he was held by his men, the following, from a Cape May paper,
whose editor visited the regiment while it was lying at Suffolk, is here added: " The
whole regiment is warmly attached to Colonel Derrom. We do not believe there is an
officer in the service, in whom are combined, in a higher degree, the necessary qualifications for his position, than the Colonel of the Twenty-fifth. He is brave and
efficient, an excellent disciplinarian, and commands his men by commanding their
respect and esteem."
67




530            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
constructed formidable earthworks which were defended by numerous batteries. The odds were fearful, but the brave troops of the
Ninth pushed steadily forward, clearing their way to a plain at the
foot of the first ridge. There the order was given to storm the
enemy's works, and two divisions advanced to the perilous task,
marching dauntlessly across the plain until within a dozen or
twenty yards of the ridge.  Then the rebel infantry, stationed
behind a stone wall, opened a murderous fire. For a moment the
bead of the column was thrown into confusion, but rallying, it was
reinforced, and again moved forward. But the attempt to dislodge
the enemy was yain.  From  the moment the brave columns left
the shelter of the ravine where they had formed for the assault
until they reached the foot of the hill, the rebel artillery and infantry poured a terrific concentrated fire upon the advancing line;
and again it came to a halt, then broke and retired.  But now, the
situation growing desperate, Getty's Division, including the Twentyfifth, was ordered up, and charged directly upon the entrenchmentsthe Jerseymen forming the center of the attacking force. Pushing
steadily forward a distance of some eight hundred yards, over
fences, ravines and swamps, the regiment, just at dusk, charged
with a cheer to a plateau only fifty paces from the wall held by the
enemy, exposed all the way to a murderous fire, but bravely pressing on and holding their advanced position.  But this was but for
a little time. At length, the supports having fallen back, and the
darkness rendering it Impossible to manceuver longer with safety
-the enemy, moreover, having perfect command of the positionthe regiment was reluctantly withdrawn, still, however, fighting
gallantly, and pouring in volleys of musketry, as it fell back. By
this time, other parts of the line had also been finally driven back,
and the enemy having re-occupied his advanced position, the
Twenty-fifth, with its division, bivouacked on the ground from
which it had moved to the assault.  The loss of the regiment in
this battle was nine killed, fifty-eight wounded and eighteen missing.  The conduct of the men was excellent throughout, being
much more steady, indeed, than that of some other regiments.
The following congratulatory order, dated "Bivouac, streets of




THE TWENTY-FIFTH REGIMENT.                      531
Fredericksburg," was issued by the Colonel commanding on the day
after the engagement:
"I. The Colonel Commanding takes great pleasure in giving credit to the officers
and men in general of this regiment, engaged in the action of yesterday. Their coolness, under the trying circumstances in which they were placed, stamps them as
worthy comrades of the veterans of the army.
"II. The few who in the time of danger skulked from their duty to their country,
will in due time receive their reward.
" III. The noble men whom we have lost (killed in action) we mourn for, and sympathize with their families in their affliction-while we hope that their and our loss
will be the eternal gain of our late comrades.
"IV. In congratulating all' on the bold front the regiment displayed, and for our
preservation from greater loss under the terrific fire of the enemy, it is proper that we
should render thanks unto God for His merciful providence.
"ANDREW DERROiM, Colonel Commanding."
Going into camp after this sanguinary battle, at its old position
near Falmouth, the regiment remained unemployed until early in
February, when it was transferred with its division to Newport
News, whence, on the 13th of March, it proceeded to Suffolk, and
encamped but a short distance from the Dismal Swamp, near Fort
Jericho, a work commanding the railroad running to Portsmouth.
Here detachments of the command were employed in picket-duty
and in other duties until early in April, when, the enemy (some
thirty thousand strong) having crossed the Blackwater and taken
a position in our front, the regiment was put into the entrenchments,
a portion manning the completed works while others constructed
new defences, built bridges, and opened and established necessary
roads. The position of our army at this time was extremely critical.  Longstreet's object clearly was to cross the Nansemond, overwhelm  the garrison, seize the roads to Norfolk, and cut off our
supplies. His success in this movement would have placed both
Norfolk and Portsmouth at his mercy; and it became, therefore, of
the utmost consequence that our position on the Nansemond should
be firmly and inflexibly held against all comers.   Fortunately,
General Peck was equal to the emergency. Fathoming the plans
of the rebel commander, he, as we have seen, disposed his troops
so as to command the Nansemond for a distance of eight miles.
The banks of the river being of such a character that troops could
not, without making long marches around ravines, creeks, and
swamps, pass as reinforcements, General Getty, commanding the




532              NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Third Division, ordered the construction of a military road several
miles long, including several bridges and long spaces of corduroy,
following the general course of the river-bank.  This work, at once
arduous and important, was largely performed by the Twenty-fifth
New Jersey, while the bridges were in almost every instance constructed  under the direction of Colonel Derrom.  Two of these
bridges-one over Broer's Creek, near Suffolk, and the other over
Jericho Creek-were not only built but designed by that officer, and
were constructed almost entirely without tools, the workmen using
only wood axes, one augur and one small chisel.  Each bridge was
built in from five to ten hours, and though subjected to the severest
tests, columns of troops, trains of loaded wagons, and the heaviest
field ordnance and siege pieces repeatedly crossing over them, they
stood unshaken.2
We have seen that upon Longstreet appearing in our front, our
troops  promptly constructed new  defences, and  in  other ways
strengthened their position.  These defences were for several days
vigorously assailed, but without appreciable effect. At length, on
the 14th of April, our gunboats co-operating, our batteries on the
Nansemond opened resistlessly on the enemy's position, bringing
on a sharp engagement which resulted in the capture of several of
the rebel guns and a number of prisoners. In this affair several
companies of the Twenty-fifth were engaged as supports to our batteries, doing excellent service. On the 24th, another engagement
occurred between an expeditionary force of our troops and the
enemy, but the Twenty-fifth did not participate, being engaged in
other duties.
2 The bridge over Broer's Creek-over seventy feet in length, and the foundation
resting on a muddy bottom in ten feet of water-was thrown across in five hours, the
whole structure, including the cutting down of the timber and the corduroying of
the approaches through a thick wood, being completed in less than a day with a
detail of sixty men. Colonel Derrom appears to have suggested this whole system of
roads and bridges, by means of which, mainly, Longstreet was checkmated. A letter
from General Getty to Colonel Derrom says: " More especially were your suggestions
on the subject of military bridges of value. The bridges constructed by you, and
after your own invention, over Broer's Creek, during the siege of Suffolk, in April
last, were of the greatest importance. Thrown with great rapidity, and at a critical
moment, by cutting off a detour of five miles, and thus bringing the troops on the
Nansemond River into close and rapid communication with each other and with
Suffolk, they contributed essentially to the successful termination of the siege."




THE TWENTY-FIFTH1 REGIMENT.                533
During the last week in April the rebels moved a considerable
body of troops in front of our lines, and constructing rifle-pits,
seriously annoyed those of our troops who occupied the outposts.
General Peck, accordingly, determined to attack the enemy, drive
him from one portion of the front, and also to ascertain whether
Longstreet had reinforced the rebels near Richmond. To this end
a reconnoissance in force was ordered, consisting of three brigades,
embracing eleven regiments, (including the Twenty-fifth,) two batteries, and a detachment of mounted riflemen. To reach the route
by which it was proposed to advance, it was necessary to cross the
Nansemond River, which had been formerly spanned by a bridge
now partially destroyed. During the night previous to the movement, the bridge was temporarily repaired, and at nine o'clock on
the morning of May 3d, the One Hundred and Third New York,
the advance guard, crossed the river, closely followed by the
Twenty-fifth New Jersey, Thirteenth New Hampshire and Eightyninth New York, the cavalry and artillery bringing up the rearthe Union forts and gunboats meanwhile shelling the woods towards
which our troops must advance, and in which the enemy was
posted. Immediately upon reaching the opposite side of the river
the advancing regiments were met by a galling fire from the rebel
sharpshooters, but, making no reply to this fire, the brigade pressed
firmly forward to the summit of a hill leading from the river,
where it formed in line of battle parallel to the woods-the One
Hundred and Third New York and Twenty-fifth New Jersey taking position to the right of the road, and the Eighty-ninth and
Thirteenth New York on the left of it. Still the enemy poured in
a steady fire, but the attacking column did not for a moment falter.
Moving off at the word of command, they gradually pushed the
enemy before them, driving him from his shelter, and at length
obtaining position near the edge of the woods, where a continuous
fire was kept up until one o'clock. At that hour, the Thirteenth
New Hampshire and Eighty-ninth New York charged on the riflepits in the undergrowth, and after a stubborn contest, drove the
enemy in great confusion. Meanwhile, the Twenty-fifth was steadily
advancing, and reinforcements coming up shortly after, the field




534           NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
at all points was won, the enemy's first line of rifle-pits being at all
points in our possession.  The behavior of the men of the Twentyfifth during the whole day was most admirable, and to their indomitable gallantry was largely due the success of the expedition.  The
loss of the regiment was two killed and nine wounded.  Among
the former was Chaplain Butler who was mortally wounded while
moving about the field in efforts to alleviate the sufferings of the
wounded,8 and who only four hours before had lifted his hands in
prayer over the regiment as it marched to the field.
Longstreet now abandoning the siege, about a week subsequent
to this last engagement the Twenty-fifth Regiment moved to a point
near Norfolk, and not far from the Elizabeth River, where it constructed a fort, which in compliment to the State, was named Fort
New Jersey, by order of General Getty.  This fort occupied some
five acres of ground, with a parapet of two thousand and four
hundred feet square, and was built under the superintendence of
Lieutenant-Colonel Ayres. It stood throughout the war as a monument of the industry and endurance of New Jersey troops, who,
from first to last, proved themselves equal to every duty.
This was the last work in which the Twenty-fifth was engaged.
On the 4th of June, it was ordered to proceed to Portsmouth and
take transportation for New Jersey, and four days later reached
Camp Cadwallader, at Beverly, where on the 20th of June it was
mustered out of the service. Upon quitting the field, the regiment
was complimented in a special order by General Getty, in the
course of which he said:  " Since the regiment joined this division
last November, they have improved as soldiers with great rapidity;
from the most inexperienced they have become worthy to be ranked
as veterans.  Everything required of them  has been performed
cheerfully and well, and they return home with the proud consciousness of having done their duty." Colonel Derrom, on the
muster-out of the regiment, issued the following order:
["Regimental Order, iTo. 97.]
"After an honorable term of military service, the officers and men of the Twentys Chaplain Butler was a man of the most exalted character and the very purest
patriotism, and was universally beloved by the men, in whose service he so bravely
died.




THE TWENTY-FIFTH  REGIMENT.                        535
fifth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers, are assembled to be mustered out of the
service of the United States. During the time the regiment has been in the service,
every duty, whether in training routine or in action, has been performed with cheerfulness and alacrity. The conduct of the regiment has been most exemplary, both in
a moral and military view.  Let the good name of the regiment be ever held in
remembrance by the officers and men, and in after life let us all look back with pleasure
upon the honorable connection each officer and man has had in building up and sustaining this good name. Let us so act in all our future conduct that we may ever
boast that we have been members of the Twenty-fifth New Jersey Volunteers.
"We will, at the close of our service, offer up unto Almighty God our thanksgiving
and praise for His infinite mercy and loving kindness unto us, in supporting, guiding
and protecting us through many dangers and temptations, and bringing us safely back
to our homes."
While the casualties of the Twenty-fifth, as compared with those of
many other regiments, were few, and its achievements were not
celebrated, as were those of some other commands, in bulletins
from the battle-field, its services were none the less important, and
its labors none the less arduous and severe. No regiment ever
performed, in the same period of time, more exhausting labors, and
few have a brighter record of duty always cheerfully and faithfully
done. During the siege of Suffolk, as has been seen, it was conspicuous in the construction of breastworks, rifle-pits and military
roads and bridges, as well as in the performance of arduous military
duties, in supporting batteries, manning rifle-pits and doing picketduty in the face of the enemy-while in the field its courage shone
out lustrously in every contest in which it was engaged.  Shrinking
from no peril, halting at no obstacles, maintaining the honor of the
nation's flag, it deserved the plaudits which welcomed it home. and
followed those who had served in its ranks into the retirement of
private life.4
4 The following statistics furnish details as to the composition of the regiment, the
localities in which it was raised, the names of officers and men, and their several occupations:
Colonel, Andrew Derrom, architect and builder, Paterson, Passaic County.
Lieutenant-Colonel, E. J. Ayres, grocer, Paterson, Passaic County.
Major, J. Kelly Brown, nurseryman, Camden, Camden County.
Adjutant, Daniel B. Murphy, mechanic, Camden, Camden County.
Quartermaster, James Inglis, Jr., stationer, Paterson, Passaic County.
Surgeon, James Reiley, M. D., Morristown.
First Assistant-Surgeon, Robert M. Bateman, M. D., Bridgeton.
Second Assistant-Surgeon, Seffrine Daily, M. D., Newark.
Chaplain, Francis E. Butler, Presbyterian, Paterson, Passaic County.
Sergeant-Major, Charles J. Field, tobacconist, Camden, Camden County.
Quartermaster-Sergeant, John Murchamp, clerk, Camden, Camden County.




536                 NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Commissary-Sergeant, J. R. Putnam, lawyer, Paterson, Passaic County.
Hospital-Steward, D. McAuslan, clerk, Paterson, Passaic County.
Ward-Master, George Gravelius, barber, Paterson, Passaic County.
Drill-Sergeant, William McDonough, huckster, Camden, Camden County.
Drum-Major, A. J. Williams, cigar-maker, West Milford.
Colonel's Orderly, E. L. Townsend, farmer, Cape May.
COMPANY A.
This company was raised in Paterson, Passaic County. Total strength, 101.  Commissioned Officers-Captain, John McKiernan, coppersmith; First Lieutenant, Andrew
Rogers, coppersmith; Second Lieutenant, T. B. Richards, machinist.
The occupations of the non-commissioned officers and privates were as follows:
Bridge builder, 1; boiler makers, 6; blacksmiths, 4; baker, 1; bleachers, 2; carpenters,
5; cotton spinners, 2; clerk, 1; coppersmith, 1; farmers, 14; mason, 1; machinists,
15; moulders, 3; millwrights, 4; engineer, 1; mineral water men, 4; silkmaker, 1; shoemakers, 5; sailor, 1; laborers, 24; pattern makers, 1; tin and sheet ironworker, 1.
First Lieutenant Andrew Rogers, of this company, was promoted to Captain and
transferred to Company F, same regiment, and Fourth Sergeant Samuel G. McKiernan
was promoted First Lieutenant, to fill the vacancy. First Sergeant Gibson, reported
wounded at Fredericksburg, was appointed Second Lieutenant. This company had
five privates killed in the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 186~ — also nine
wounded; two men wounded at Suffolk, May 3, 1863.
COMPANY B.
This company was raised in the following places in Atlantic County: Egg Harbor,
76 men; Hamillton, 17 men; Atlantic City, 4 men; Mullica township, 2 men; Galloway
township, 1 man, and 1 from  Salem  County.  Total, 101.  Commissioned OfficersCaptain, Somers T. Champion, artist; First Lieutenant, Jethre V. Albertson, ship
builder; Second Lieutenant, D. Somers Risley, ship builder.
Non-commissioned Officers and Privates-Ambrotypist, 1; blacksmith, 1; carpenters, 4;
farmers, 20; laborers, 25; moulder, 1; oystermen, 32; school teacher, 1; shoemaker, 1;
watermen, 8; wheelright, 1; teamsters 3.
The company had five men wounded and two men missing at the battle before
Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862.
COMPANY C.
This company was raised in Paterson, Passaic county.  Commissioned Officers-Cap.
tain, Archibald Graham, machinist; First Lieutenant, Columbus Force, machinist;
Second Lieutenant, R. Parmley, machinist.
Non-commissioned Officers and Privates-Boiler makers, 7; butcher, 1; clerks, 3; car;
penters, 9; engineers, 3; farmers, 15; laborers, 33; machinists, 13; masons, 2; sheet
and iron workers, 2; silk worker, 1; moulders, 3; shoemakers, 2; tailor, 1; weaver, 1;
wagon trimmer, 2.
This company had 4 men wounded and 1 man killed at the battle of Fredericksburg,
December 13, 1862. Also, 1 Sergeant killed at the battle of Suffolk, Virginia, May 3,
1863.
COMPANY D.
This company was raised in Fairfield township, Cumberland county.  Commissioned
Officers-Captain, E. F. Garretson, ship captain; First Lieutenant, Samuel Peacock,
hotel keeper; Second Lieutenant, Joseph Bateman, carpenter.
Non-commissioned Officers and Privates-Artists, 1; clerks, 3; carpenters, 2; farmers,
17; glass blowers, 3; masons, 2; watermen, 37; laborers, 30; shoemakers, 2; spar
maker, 1; total, 10l.
This company had nine men wounded and two men killed at the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13,1862.
COMPANY E.
This company was raised in West Milford, Passaic County.  Commnissioned Officers



TiHE  ittENTY-FIPTH  REGIMIENT.                            8T7
Captain, Alexander Holmes, machinist; First Lieutenant, Ge  rge P. Freeman, farmer;
Second Lieutenant, Charles M. Marsh, lawyer.
Yion-commissioned QOicers and Privates-Artists, 5; boiler maker, 1; blacksmith, 3;
butcher, 1; carpenter, 1; clerk, 1; engineer, 1; barber, 1; farmers, 26; merchant, 1;
laborers, 32; lawyer, 1; machinists, 4; masons, 2; painter, 1; shoemakers, 2; sheet
iron workers, 3; weavers, 2; total 91.
This company had three men wounded and one man missing in action at the battle
of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862.
CoMPANY F.
This company was raised in Dennis and Lower townships, Cape May County.  Commissioned Officers-Captain, David Blenkon, shoe dealer; First Lieutenant, Nicholas
W~. Godfrey, carpenter; Second Lieutenant Henry Y. Willets, carpenter.
Nlon-commissioned Ogficers and Privates-Artists, 2; carpenters, 8; clerks, 2; farmers,
40; laborers, 33; shoemaker, 1; watermen, 8; seaman, 1; miller, 1; printers, 2;
total, 98.
This company had five men wounded and one man missing (supposed killed) at the
battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862; also one corporal and one private
wounded at Suffolk, Va., May 3, 1863.
COMPANY G.
This company was raised in the following places: Upper Township, Cape May
County, 39; Weymouth, Atlantic County, 22; Camden, Camden County, 25; Morris
River, Cumberland County, 9.  Commissioned  Officers-Captain, Charles R. Powell,
blacksmith; First Lieutenant, Ewing W. Tibbles, painter; Second Lieutenant, Nicholas
Corson, school teacher.
Non —conmmissioned Officers and Privates-Bricklayers, 2; blacksmith 1; carpenters, 2;
clerks, 3; cigar maker, 1; sheet iron worker, 1; seamen, 2; watermen, 12; carriage
trimmer, 1; dentist, 1; masons, 1; machinist, 1; moulder, 1; shoemaker, 1; school
teacher, 1; farmers, 5; millwright 1; miller, 1; printer, 1; harness makers, 2; painters, 2; laborers, 50; glass cutter, 1; glass blower, 1; total 98.
This company had eight men wounded and one man missing (since died at Richmond) at the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862. Captain C. Force, wounded
at the battle of Suffolk, May 3d, 1863. (Columbus Force, First Lieutenant Company
C, promoted Captain of Company G.)
COMPANY H.
This company was raised in Paterson, Passaic County.  Commissioned OfficersCaptain, Harvey Beyea, machinist; First Lieutenant, Abraham Vanderbilt, carpenter;
Second Lieutenant, Cornelius Van Wagoner, merchant.
/ons-commissioned Offcers and Privates-Artists, 3; carpenters, 13; box makers, 2;
butchers, 3; belt maker, 1; bleacher, 1; barber, 1; clerks, 13; cooper, 1; copper.
smtith, 1; blacksmiths, 4; daguerrean, 1; engineer, 1; farmers, 5; gold beater, 1;
lawyers, 2; laborers, 10; machinists, 8; mill wrights, 2; moulder, 1; printers, 2;
painters, 3; plumber, 1; shoemakers, 4; sawyer, 1; silk spinner, 1; sheet iron workcrs, 2; type makers, 2; tinkers, 2; sash and blind maker, 1; silver plater, 1; tinsmiths, 2; weaver, 1; warper, 1; total, 101.
This company had two men wounded (one having died and the other discharged, by
reason of their wounds,) at the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862; also
two men wounded at the battle of Suffolk, Va., May 3, 1863.
COMPANY I.
This company was raised in the following counties: Cape May County, 69; Atlantic
County, 5; Cumberland County, 1; Camden County, 25.  Commissioned Officers-Captain,
P. A. Stevens, farmer; First Lieutenant, J. F. Tomlin, farmer; Second Lieutenant, Samuel
E. Douglass, farmer.
Noon-conmmissioned Officers and Private3 -Blacksmith, 1; butchers, 3; carpenters, 7;
farmers, 36; huckster, 1; cotton-spinner, 1; mason, 1; painters, 2; moulders, 2; sailor,
1; shoemakers, 4; sheet and iron workers, 2; watermen, 36; total, 100.
68




588                  NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
This company had five men wounded and one man killed at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, December 13, 1862; also, two men wounded at Suffolk, Virginia, May 3,
1863.
COMPANY K.
This Company was raised in Acquackanonk Township, Passaic County.  Commissioned
Officers-Captain, Edward R. Spear, carriage maker; First Lieutenant, Lcwis A. Piagot,
watch makei; Second Lieutenant, George M. Post, farmer.
Lon-commissioned Officers and Privates-Bricklayers, 4; boiler makers, 2; blacksmiths,
5; butchers, 2; cooks, 8; charcoal burners, 14; hatters, 2; weavers, 2; bakers, 2; carpenters, 4; cotton spinner, 1; clerks, 4; huckster, 1; masons, 2; machinists, 2; watchmaker, 1; millers, 2; mill wright, 1; farmers, 24; painters, 2; plumber, 1; shoemakers,
6; sailors, 5; tailors, 1; tctal, 101.
This company had one Corporal killed and one private wounded, and one missing at
the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862.




CHAPTER XX.
THE TWENTY-SIXTH  REGIMENT.
THE Twenty-sixth, like all the nine months' regiments, was hastily formed.  It was composed of men from  Newark and the adjoining towns-Orange, South Orange, Bloomfield and Caldwell-each
furnishing one company, while Newark filled the remaining six.
The regiment was mustered into the State service at Camp Frelinghuysen on September 3, 1862, and some three weeks later, (September 26th,) being officered and equipped,1 proceeded to Washington, arriving there the day following and going into camp on Capital Hill.  Here, being assigned to General Briggs's Brigade, Sumner's Corps, it remained until October 1st, when it was ordered to
Frederick, Maryland, making the journey in open cars on which
any degree of comfort was altogether impossible.  On the 1lth,
the regiment started on its first march, proceeding to Hagerstown,
where it was attached to the brigade of which it formed a part, until
1 The original roster of the regiment was as follows:
Colonel, Andrew J. Morrison; Lieutenant-Colonel, -; Major, William
W. Morris; Adjutant, John C. White; Quartermaster, John H. Bailey; Surgeon,
Luther G. Thomas; Chaplain, D. T. Morrill. Conzpany A-Captain, Stephen C. Fordham; First Lieutenant, Rochus Heinisch, Jr.; Second Lieutenant, William H. Meldrum.
Company B —Captain, William H. Halsey; First Lieutenant, Mark Sears; Second Lieutenant, James A. Linen. Company C —Captain, Samuel H. Pemberton; First Lieutenant, Cornelius McCleese; Second Lieutenant, George Hogan. Company D-Captain,
Henry M. Bush; First Lieutenant,; Second Lieutenant, Moses A.
Hoage. Company E-Captain, John Hunkle; First Lieutenent, Henry C. Terhune;
Second Lieutenant, Ira Meeker. Company — Captain, Walter H. Dodd; First Lieutenant, Robert J. Beach; Second Lieutenant, William R. Taylor. Company G-Captain, George W. Harrison; First Lieutenant, George W. Nixon; Second Lieutenant,
Joseph A. Dunnell. Company  — Captain, Samuel U. Dodd; First Lieutenant, Brittain Haines; Second Lieutenant, John I. King. Company 1-Captain, John McIntee;
First Lieutenant, -      --; Second Lieutenant, Albert Allen. Company f —Captain, Thaddeus Smith; First Lieutenant, Peter F. Rogers; Second Lieutenant, --




540               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
the expiration of its term  of service.  This brigade was composed
of the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Vermont regiments,
commanded  by  General Brooks, and  formed  part  of Smith's
Division, Franklin's Corps.   General Brooks being  soon  after
assigned to the command  of a  division, Colonel Whiting  took
command of the brigade."  Leaving Hagerstown  on the 31st, the
regiment proceeded to Berlin, on the Potomac. where it crossed
into Virginia, marching to New  Baltimore, and thence to a point
on Aquia Creek, where it remained until, Burnside having completed his preparations for a movement against Fredericksburg, it
advanced with its division to Falmouth, going into  camp on the
6th of December, in the midst of a cold and pitiless storm-the
men pitching their tents in the frozen snow.  So severe was the
cold  that the night after the arrival of the regiment, the water
froze in the canteens.
On the 11th, marching orders cane again.  "Two days before"we quote the narrative  of one who participated in all the experiences of the regiment —  at evening dress parade, the Colonel had
told the men that they would soon go into battle.  He expressed
himself pleased with the conduct of the regiment thus far, and
2 " At this time the regiment was over a thousand strong. We were fully and well
equipped, with the important exception, however, of our guns, which were old, altered
muskets, and totally unfit for active service. In respect to men, the regiment was
composed of the flower of Essex County. True we had been hastily brought together,
and some lad been enlisted who were too old or too young or otherwise unfit for service, but the numnber of these was not large, and the great body of the regiment was
composed of young active men, mechanics and farmers, men of character and intelligence for the most part. Out of such material the very best soldiers might have been
made. Of our officers, Colonel Morrison was almost the only one who had seen service, and he had been a cavalry officer, so that his duties as commander of an infantry
regiment were new to him. Many of the officers were, up to the time of their appointment, unacquainted even with the company drill, and it was inevitable from the way
in which they were chosen that some of them should prove unfit for the positions
which they occupied. We had to go through that weeding-out process which all our
volunteer regiments went through with; but for us the process was a costly one, for
we went through it, not in a winter camp, but during an active and trying campaign
when good officers would have been everything to us. We were emphatically a green
regiment when we entered upon active service, and we learned our drill, not on the
parade ground, but by long marches and finally on the battle field. We had one great
advantage. We were brigaded with veterans, and with veterans, too, who had won a
high reputation in the Peninsula.nd Maryland campaigns. Their example was our
real teacher in the school of war. Such was our condition and situation when we
crossed into Virginia."-Notes of an Officer.




THE TWENTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.                 541
exhorted all to keep cool and obey orders when they came into
danger.   We started early in the morning and took the road
towards the Rappahannock. After going a short distance, we were
ordered for the first time to load. We were scarcely on the way
again before cannonading commenced, and as we drew near the
river it became more and more distinct, until we could hear the
howling of the shells following the reports.  On we went, until
reaching the brow of a hill, the valley of the Rappahannock burst
upon our sight. At our feet lay an extensive plain, through the
midst of which we could trace the course of the river.  In the
back-ground, the Heights of Fredericksburg stood out against the
horizon.  To our right, the plain narrowed, and just where the
hills met the river, lay the little, quaint old city.  That view
would have been remarkable at any time, but as we saw it, it was
more than remarkable. The hills over which we were passing
were grim with batteries, while on the plain beneath, the long
dark lines of the Union army stretched for miles away into the
distance. On the opposite bank we could catch glimpses of the
rebel host, and from the hills directly in front of us their batteries
peered out, half masked by the trees.  To the right, the cannonading was becoming more and more terrible, and the smoke from
the rebel guns hung like a pall over the devoted city.  We soon
had descended into the plain, and taking our place in the line, lay
waiting on our arms. Presently the battery on the hill behind us
commenced firing, sending the shells wizzing over our heads.  The
day passed on.  Sometimes the firing almost ceased for a little
while, and then was renewed with redoubled vigor.  At sundown,
a detachment attempted to cross the pontoon bridge which had
been laid in front of us. As they went down the river bank, the
sharpshooters on the other side opened on them. Then a battery,
dashing down to the river bank, opened on the sharpshooters, and
the flashing guns and shells bursting in the gathering darkness,
made the scene indescribably grand. Soon all was quiet, and we
moved back a short distance into the woods to pass the night.
The following morning we crossed the pontoon bridge without
opposition, and formed in line of battle on the opposite side of the




542           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
river. Soon the rebel batteries opened, and then, for the first
time we felt that we were under fire, for their shells, flying over
our heads, frequently burst just above us, though too high to do
any carnage. That night we slept on our arms. The next day was
the memorable 13th of December. During the morning everything
was comparatively quiet; but in the afternoon the firing became
general and heavy all along the line. Around us the shells flew
thickly, and two of our men were wounded. Column after column
filed past us on the way to the front, and one regiment after
another of our own brigade fell quietly into their ranks and moved
off to battle, until we were left alone. We awaited our turn, a
little nervously, perhaps, but still quietly and hopefully.  We
knew that we were not in fighting trim.  Our Colonel was away
sick, and Major Morris, our only field officer, had as yet had no
opportunity to prove himself the brave officer we afterwards found
him.  Our muskets were useless, and our drill, as yet, was very
imperfect. But. every one seemed to feel that we could fight in
spite of all this, and we felt half anxious to be led to the front.
At last the order came, and the regiment never moved off in finer
style or kept a better line; but we had not gone two hundred yards
before the order was countermanded, and we marched quietly back
to our former position. Why we went no further we never certainly knew, but it was reported that Colonel Whiting, who commanded our brigade, protested against sending us in, saying that it
would be murder to do so with only one field officer and our useless
arms.  Night came on and the firing ceased. We lay down to rest,
not knowing how the fight had gone. Little did we dream that
the night had closed on one of the darkest days of our nation's
history. The next morning was the Sabbath; but no Sabbath rest
came to the Army of the Potomac, except to those who slept their
last long sleep under the shadow of those bloody hills. We were
soon ordered up and moved to the front under a heavy artillery
fire, which, however, did us no damage: We took our position
along a road beyond which was the skirmish line. The skirmishers kept up a brisk fire all the morning, and the stretcher-bearers
passed us with their mournful burdens; but towards afternoon all




THE TWAENTY-SIXTIH  REGIMENT.                      543
became quiet, and we passed the night as best we could in the
muddy road-the next morning falling back near the river.  Lieutenant-Colonel Seaver, of the Third Vermcnt Regiment, now took
command of the Twenty-sixth.  We lay quietly all day, but at
night silently crossed the pontoon bridge and in a little while were
camped again in the woods on the north side of the Rappahannock
-soon after going into winter-quarters near Belle Plain.
The regiment now entered fairly on the routine of camp duty,
and under Colonel Seaver's command rapidly improved  in drill
and discipline. In January, when Colonel Morrison had resumed
command, and Captain Martindale, of General Howe's staff, had
been appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, the regiment participated in the
"Mud March," suffering greatly and becoming so disheartened that
only twenty or thirty men, on the return march, came in with the
colors." At length the spring dawned, and the army again struck
3 From the notes of an officer of the regiment, we gather the following in reference
to this famous campaign:
" We moved off at a rapid rate, and as we had lately drawn our winter clothing, our
knapsacks were unusually heavy. On we went for about four miles. Then a short
halt to rest; and then on again, across the railroad, through wood and valley, up hill
and down, past many a deserted camp the column moved, until at last it halted in a corn
field to allow the stragglers to catch up, for the rapid pace and their heavy loads had
began to tell on the men. SoQn we started again at a more rapid rate than before, and
now the regiments began to dwindle away and every deserted camp was filled with
those who had fallen out of the ranks, utterly unable to keep up. We finally camped
ina thick woods near Banks' Ford. It had been somewhat cloudy all day, but for
weeks there had been no storms and the roads were in splendid condition, but scarcely
had we set up our shelter tents before it commenced to rain, and by morning the
treacherous soil was like the "Slough of Despond."  The storm, a cold north-easter.
continued to rage during the day, and about one o'clock we were ordered to strike
tents and march. We moved about half a mile in the direction of the river, when we
halted and stacked arms. Here any doubts that we might have had respecting our
destination were solved, for there, on a little rise of ground before us, a number of
pontoon wagons were drawn up, while others were being dragged through the mud to
that position. It was certain that we were to attempt the passage of the Rappahannock once more. Presently we were ordered to take off our equipments and were
marched a little way back into the woods, where was a pontoon train stuck fast in the
mud. Long ropes were rigged to the wagons and the Twenty-sixth took hold, one
company to each boat, to help the train through. We floundered away, some pulling
by the ropes, others pushing, and after a good deal of hard work we dragged the boats
out of the woods on, or rather into, open ground; for in the woods there had been
degrees of muddiness. Sometimes the wheels would go down to the hubs in somne
awful mud hole, then the ground would be comparatively hard for a little way, and we
would have to draw the wagons over stumps instead of through the mud. But once
out of the woods, our position was like that of liliputians in a great mud pie. The
wheels went down actually over the hubs, and those of us were fortunate who did not
get in over our knees. Some actually went down up to the middle. The horses, poor




544               NEW  JERSEY AND  THE REBELLION.
its tents and prepared once more to measure strength with the foe.
Meanwhile, the Twenty-sixth had been supplied with new rifles and
greatly improved in morale as well as drill.  "The men," accord
ing  to the testimony of the writer already quoted, "were in the
best of health and spirits, and if not anxious for the fray, were
still ready for it."   On the 28th of April, orders for an advance
were received, and the Twenty-sixth once more moved towards the
Rappahannock, bivouacking at night about a mile from  the river,
and early the next morning marching out to almost precisely the
spot where it stood in line in December.  Here it remained during
beasts, could of course do no nothing to help us, and the train was literally stuck.
Another regiment was sent to our aid, and with their assistance we dragged the pontoons almost over the horses' backs through the field to the hill where the others were
drawn up. We were then ordered back to the place where our arms were stacked. By
this time it was dark. We were wet to the skin with the rain, covered with mud and
chilled through and through by the cold storm. There was nothing at hand of which
to make fires except green scrub pines, yet the men actually did make miserable smoky
little fires with these, in spite of the rain, but to get warm by one of them was an impossibility, much less to cook our suppers. We remained for some time in this miserable plight, when the Colonel rode up and said:'Boys, take off your equipments;
there are forty more of these boats to be got through to-night and this brigade must
do it; so prepare for work!' This was adding misery to misery, but we waited and no
orders to grapple the pontoons came, but presently the Colonel rode np again and told
us to fall in, as we were going back to our camp. This news was received joyfully
enough, and after stumbling along through the mud and darkness for about a mile, we
found ourselves at the place from which we started in the morning. Soon rousing fires
were going, by which we dried ourselves and cooked our coffee. We then pitched our
tents on the cold, wet ground, and slept as soundly as if we had been in comfortable
beds at home. Once during the next day we were ordered to prepare to march, but
the order was countermanded. The opinion, however, was general that the intended
movement had been given up. The day after, this opinion was confirmed, for at seven
o'clock we started back towards our old camps. The march soon degenerated into a
grand straggle, for the men were literally worn out by the three days of terrible work
which they had been through. The Twenty-sixth kept together very well until we
reached Falmouth. There rations were served out; among them, as an extra favor, a
whiskey ration, which did more harm than good. After leaving Falmouth, the regiment dwindled rapidly away, one after another falling out of the ranks, until a mere
handful was left. The whole army strangled; here you could see a group of men from
two or three different regiments cooly making coffee around a fire, while others were
plodding leisurely along, some in groups, some singly. Now and then there would be
a wagon stuck so that ten mules could not pull it out, or perhaps a knot of wagons,
ambulances and artillery so entangled that it seemed as if they could never be separated. Many a poor fellow lay down by the roadside utterly exhausted and helpless, and
the army seemed totally demoralized. Only twenty or thirty of the Twenty-sixth came
into camp with the colors. For the next two or three days the stragglers kept coming
in singly or in groups, and order was finally brought out of confusion. Though no
notice was ever taken of those who fell out on the way home, a number of noncommissioned officers were reduced to the ranks for straggling on the outward march,
but most of them were soon restored."




T1HE TWENTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.                545
the day, fighting meanwhile being in progress at Chancellorsville.
The next day, it moved its line back to the side of the hills, but
at night was detailed to escort a pontoon train to Banks' Ford,
whence it returned to its position on the following morning. That
day the men were permitted to rest, but on the next night, the
brigade crossed the river, and with the dawn of the eventful 3d of
May, mo-red up into the road in which it lay four months before, but
in a position nearer the city than at that time.  "The batteries on
both sides now opened with tremendous fury"-we again quote
from the narrative of a participant-" but behind the bank against
which the Twenty-sixth was lying, the men were better protected
from the rebel fire than from  our own —several being hurt by
fragments of shells from the guns just behind us. This state of
things continued until about noon, when we were suddenly ordered
to take off knapsacks and haversacks and pile them up in the road.
Then,'Forward, double-quick, march!' and forward  we went
over the bank, out into the open field, where we were fully exposed
to the enemy's fire.  On we went, now by the front, now by the
right flank, until the rapid pace and frequent changes had thrown
the line into considerable disorder. Colonel Morrison, riding far
ahead of us on his white-footed charger, urged us forward, but
Lieutenant-Colonel Martindale with better judgment, begged him,' For God's sake, Colonel, halt your regiment and dress it up;' and
then himself gave the order and posted the guides. No old regiment could have been cooler. There we were, half way across the
field from the hills, on one side of which a perfect storm of shell
and shrapnel was sweeping, but at the command the men halted
and dressed up the line, not as accurately, perhaps, as we would
have done on the parade ground, but still, well. Then we rushed
forward again, and as we approached the foot of the hills, we could
see the rebel gunners limbering up their lighter pieces. The Second Vermont, which had got a little ahead of us, were now moving
up the steep slope on our right, in beautiful line, and presently we
also commenced the ascent.  A terrible volley thinned the ranks
of the Vermonters, but they pressed on and the enemy began to
give way.  As we neared the earthwork, we expected to receive
69




546           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
our share of the musketry fire, but none came, and when at last
we came within a few yards of it, we saw that it was deserted and
that the enemy had left in it a fine brass field-piece. As we reached
the top of the hill we could see the flying foe crossing through a
gully and ascending the rise of ground opposite us. We gave them
a few shots and they were soon lost to view, but they rallied a little
further on, supported by a light battery, and as we came up gave
us a volley or two of grape, and then continued their flight.  We
were wild with delight. The terrible Fredericksburg heights had
been captured, and we now stood victors on those dreaded hills
which we had so often gazed upon from  the other side. The
Twenty-sixth had fought its first battle, and had done well and
courageously. We could now go home proudly, with an honorably-scarred flag. Our loss had been light in spite of the fire to
which we had been exposed and we hardly gave it a thought as
yet. Such were our feelings as we marched back to the place
where we had left our knapsacks. In the road we made our coffee
and ate a few hard tack, which was about all the refreshments we
had that day, and then, falling in once more, started towards the
city. Now we turned up the road towards the works which the
light division had taken that morning, and every now and then,
passed the ghastly corpses of those who had fallen in the morning's
charge. On up the turnpike and over the works we passed, on
beyond the hills; and in the front where the First Division now
was, we began to hear skirmish firing, soon followed by the'growling of the bull dogs.'  We moved up in the direction of
the firing and away from the heights; pushed on a little further
and then halted to replenish our ammunition. While we were
doing so, the artillery fire suddenly ceased, and the low, sharp
musketry rattle began. When we moved off again, we met wounded
men coming to the rear. First, one here and there; then they
grew thicker and thicker, until the road-side was lined with them.
These, of course, were only those who could walk, or be helped
on by comrades who were able. That dismal procession was poor
cheer for us as we neared the front.  However, before we came
up with the firing, darkness came on and it ceased. We found that




THE TWENTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.                 547
the rebels had made a desperate stand in the pine woods; and had
succeeded in checking the advance of the First Division, and that
the old First Jersey Brigade had suffered very heavily.  We
turned off from the road along the edge of a gully, and throwing
out two companies as skirmishers, lay on our arms all night.
" In the morning everything was quiet, and we were preparing
for our breakfast, when, suddenly, the report of a gun was heard,
and a shell landed in the regiment next to us. This was followed
by another and another, and we now saw that they came from the
very hills we had taken the day before. The trouble was evident.
We were being outflanked and surrounded. Immediately slinging
our knapsacks, we fell into our places and moved off under a heavy
fire from the rebel battery.  Our own batteries, by this time, began
to reply, and everything looked as if we might have a hot time;
but after moving about nearly all the morning, from one position
to another, we finally settled down in an open field, in front of
which was a piece of woods.  During the afternoon, everything
continued quiet, until about five o'clock, when, after a little skirmishing, the first line of battle, immediately in front of us, became
heavily engaged.  The firing came nearer and nearer, and shells
and bullets swept past us. Soon the word came that'the first
line is being driven back.'  Then came the order:'Attention!
right face, double-quick, march!' and away we went past the
broken regiments of the Third Brigade, and filing in front of a
battery formed in a ditch about two feet deep, where we awaited
the onset. Two hundred yards distant, on a knoll a little to our
left, the yelling masses of greybacks came rushing on, driving
before them  the last gallant remnant of the first line.'Fire!'
shouted Colonel Martindale, who was now in command, and eight
hundred rifles poured their contents into the closed ranks of the
foemen.  They staggered, as if struck by a tornado; only for a
moment, however, and then, though in disorder and scattered,
again advanced.  They were now almost upon our flank, and it
became necessary for us to change our position-for the men on
the right, obliqueing their fire as the rebels came nearer, were
almost firing into those on the left.'Cease firing! By file left,




548           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
march!' came the orders in quick succession.   The first was
obeyed by the whole regiment, and the second by the companies
on the left of the line, but towards the right and center it was mistaken, and the regiment broke. It certainly was not the fault of
the men that it did so. No veterans could have behaved more
coolly, until the order'retreat' was given, and the example was
set by one or two officers who ought to have known better. We
were not the only regiment that was broken on that fearful Monday
night, and when veterans were compelled to give way, we might
well be pardoned for doing the same; but many look back on
that moment with regret. Reaching a brush fence, the Twentysixth rallied. In the mean time, many of the men had fallen
in with the Sixth Vermont, which lay behind a little rise of
ground, awaiting the onset of the rebel hosts.  Although the
enemy was at least three times their number, for there was a whole
brigade of them, the gallant Vermonters let them come on until
they were actually within a few feet of them, and then, rising,
poured in a volley which literally decimated the foe. They fled
hastily, and the Sixth Corps was saved!  Now it was our turn,
and the Vermonters, followed by the Twenty-sixth, pressed forward on the flying foe, until we reached the brow of the hill from
which they had come. As we went, we took a great many prisoners-among them, the Colonel in command of the rebel brigade in
our immediate front. It was now growing dark, and we fell back
into a new position, and several companies were thrown out as
skirmishers.
" During the night, all was quiet, save occasional shots from a
rebel battery, and now and then a little skirmish firing. Little by
little we moved down towards the river, and about four o'clock in
the morning crossed on the pontoon bridge which we had brought
up a few nights before. Two hours' rest, and then the Twentysixth was sent down to help the engineers take up the pontoons.
It was a tiresome work for men who had had no rest for twentyfour hours. But we got the boats out, hauled them up the hill,
piled bushes over them to conceal them, and then went back into
the woods. Being here disturbed by occasional shells from the




THE TWENTY-SIXTH  REGIMENT.                           549
enemy, we fell in and marched about a mile further back." The
total loss of the regiment in this series of operations, in which it
displayed a heroism worthy of veterans, was seven killed, sixtyfive wounded, and fifty-one missing.4
After remaining  in a most uncomfortable  position  for a few
days, the regiment moved to Belle Plain Landing, near which it
went into camp.  The time at which the regimental term  of enlistment would expire was now near at hand, and it was not considered probable that it would again be called upon to meet the enemy
in battle. But the 3d of June, the day which, as the men believed,
terminated their term of service, passed with no signs of release,
and the dissatisfaction in the regiment became deep and loudspoken.  Some declared t              that they would not fight after June 3d.
4 The official report of Lieutenant-Colonel Martindale, says:
" In furnishing a statement of the casualties in this regiment in the action of the 4th
instant, upon the Heights of Fredericksburg, I have the honor further to report that
the duties assigned to the regiment were performed substantially in a manner creditable
to the gallantry and personal courage of a majority of the officers and men. Although
compelled to shift positions repeatedly, the regiment was successfully rallied three
times, delivered its fire with telling effect, and recovered all the ground that had been
lost, and advanced its skirmishers to the crest of the hill in front of the brigade, which
had been crossed and re-crossed by the enemy. In the last advance made by the regiment it had the good fortune to capture many prisoners from the Louisiana Brigade,
which had made the attack upon ours.  Among these were Colonel Stafford, commanding the brigade (as was stated), whose sword I had the pleasure of receiving from
him; a Lieutenant-Colonel, a Major, and several Captains and minor officers, all of
whom were secured and sent to the rear.
" The total killed, wounded and missing in this action was one hundred and twentyfour, of whom there were known to be killed five, wounded forty-eight, and missing
seventy-one.
" I beg leave to mention in terms of high commendation for unflinching and faithful
performance of duty, and the great assistance rendered to me in the action, Major
William W. Morris. Also, for gallant conduct, Acting Adjutant Terhune, and most of
the commandants of companies, and in particular Sergeant-Major Cummings, Sergeants Sheridan, Untiedt and Mooney, and private McLaughlin."
Colonel Grant, commanding the brigade, in his congratulatory order to the men,
says: "You stormed and took the Heights of Fredericksburg, which, it is believed,
was one of the most brilliant feats of the war. You took three pieces of artillery and
many prisoners. And although you are not now in possession of those Heights, you
were not driven from them, but left them to advance upon a retreating foe. At the
battle near Banks' Ford you sustained the attack of a vastly superior force-no less
than three brigades-and repulsed the enemy with great slaughter, taking many prisoncrs; among them were several Colonels, Majors and line officers."
The writer is mainly indebted for the particulars of the regimental action to the
journal of Sergeant Nason, of Company F. Sergeant Nason was one of the bravest
men in the regiment. He afterwards went out as First Lieutenant in the Thirty-ninth
regiment, and was killed in leading a forlorn hope at the storming of Petersburg.




550           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
The case was substantially this: When the regiment was gathered
at Camp Frelinghuysen, the men were sworn into the service on
the 3d of September, by a State officer, " for nine months, unless
sooner discharged." On the 18th of September, they were again
mustered into the service, and this time by a United States officer.
The question was, from which muster did the enlistment date?  It
is easy to see that the opinion might be honestly entertained that
the enlistment had been for no later a date than June 3d; but the
Government took the opposite view, and the regiment was held
until after the 18th.
At length, on the 5th of June, the movements of the enemy
having been for several days of a somewhat mysterious nature, it
became necessary to penetrate his intentions and ascertain his force
on the right wing of his line. Accordingly, on the morning of
that day, the Second Division was ordered to make a reconnoissance
across the Rappahannock below Fredericksburg.  The order to
march was received on the 26th with a great deal of grumbling and
even some talk of "stacking arms," but it amounted to nothing.
Advancing with the brigade, the regiment soon stood for the third
time on the plain before Fredericksburg. Skirmishers were thrown
out, and after them batteries went into position on the river bank.
These forthwith opened a terrific fire upon the earthwork on the
opposite bank. The rebels had already sent down a strong support
to their picket line, but the fire from our guns was too much for
them, and those who could do so fled across the plain, though the
most of them staid behind the earthwork, literally unable to leave.
By this time the pontoon boats had commenced moving down to
the river bank.  A few minutes later the Twenty-sixth, with the
Fifth Vermont, were ordered to fall in.  The men started on a
double-quick, following the pontoons, receiving as they neared the
river a severe fire from the sharpshooters on the opposite side, but
still rushing resistlessly forward. There lay the boats in the water.
As they were filled by the men they were started across by the
engineers who were in charge. All this time the bullets were
spattering about in a most spiteful manner, but the moment the
boats touched the opposite side, the men leaped out and without




TrHi   TWENTY-SIXTH  REGIMENT.                      551
even waiting for the order to charge, or for any one to lead them,
dashed up the hill upon the rifle-pits, and in an instant they were
ours and all the men in them  prisoners.  The whole affair was a
most brilliant one, and reflected the greatest credit on the regiments
engaged in it.  The Twenty-sixth suffered heavily, for in the ten
or fifteen  minutes it was under fire, it lost fourteen killed  and
wounded, among whom  was Captain S. Uzal Dodd, of Company
IH.   The regiment held its position until the 7th, when, the objects
5 Chaplain Morrill says of this exploit:
"When the rebels had been shelled out of their position, as was supposed, some
boats were launched, and the Twenty-sixth New Jersey and Fifth Vermont were
selected to lead the way. At the word of command they leaped into the boats with
as much eagerness as men would start for a race; in fact there was a boat race to see
which should first reach the opposite shore and rout and seize the enemy. The Twentysixth had this honor, reaching the shore first, and with the FifthVermont, driving out
the rebels with a loss of many prisoners. * * * Captain Dodd, who commanded
the right company, was the first to enter the boat at the head of his company, and in
this position received a mortal wound. For purity of character, integrity of principle and unswerving patriotism, he was without a superior in the regiment."
Lieutenant-Colonel Martindale's official report of this affair, says:
" This regiment and the Fifth Vermont had been ordered to cross the river together,
but the right of the Twenty-sixth New Jersey having reached the river bank a little in
advance, its first two companies were the first to enter the boats, cross over, and charge
up the opposite bank. A portion of our right company, H, was the first of our regiment
to enter the enemy's entrenchments, which they did at the same moment with the head
of the Fifth Vermont, capturing a considerable number of prisoners. A line of skirmishers was immediately pushed out to the front, and the whole regiment was deployed
in and beyond the Bowling Green road until the morning of the 6th instant, when it
was relieved, placed in line of battle, and so continued until the evening of the 7th,
when the regiment was ordered back to the left bank of the Rappahannock. * * *
Among the killed, I am deeply grieved to be compelled to mention Captain S. U. Dodd,
who fell a sacrifice to his gallant and conscientious devotion to his duty while bravely
leading his company in the first boat across the river.
" X*   *  It gives me particular pleasure to call attention to the fidelity and good
conduct of Major Morris in every requirement of duty, both in the crossing and in
forming upon the opposite bank, and especially upon the exhausting and trying duty
of the skirmish line. Of the line officers. while many are justly entitled to great
praise for meritorious conduct, I desireto call particular attention to the conspicuous
gallantry and spirited conduct of Captain Stephen H. Fordham, of Company A, who
distinguished himself both in the attack upon the enemy's entrenchments and the
advance to the extreme front of the line of skirmishers. Also to that of Lieutenant
John Dodd, of Company H, who distinguished himself in like manner and was the first
man of either regiment to plant his foot upon shore in crossing the river."
Captain Dodd, who fell in this movement, was one of those who went afield from
the purest patriotism, leaving a large circle of friends, and an influential position in
society, for the hardships of army life and death on the battle-field. While with the
Twenty-sixth he was known as one of its best and bravest officers, and as a noblehearted Christian man.
It must be mentioned as an incident which marred the satisfaction over this exploit,
that a number of men of the Twenty-sixth failed to cross with the regiment; and to




552             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLIOI.
of the reconnoissance having been accomplished, the troops were
withdrawn.
One week after this handsome achievement, the regiment broke
camp at Falmouth and marched to Washington, where it arrived
on June 17th.  Thence it proceeded by rail to Newark, reaching
that city on the afternoon of the 19th, and being greeted by a grand
demonstration of welcome, in which the military, firemen, municipal authorities and the populace alike participated. The men had
for the most part faithfully performed their duty, and the ovation
which thus greeted them on their return, was only a proper recognition of their efficient and patriotic service.
all appearance they fell behind, not through cowardice or inability to keep up, but
deliberately, because they thought that there was no obligation on them to fight after
the 3d of June. Some of these were afterwards tried and sentenced for insubordination, but escaped actual punishment through the intercession of Mr. Marcus L. Ward.




CHAPTER XXI.
THE TWENTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT.
THE Twenty-seventh Regiment, raised from the quotas of Morris
and Sussex Counties, and rendezvoused at Camp Frelinghuysen,
near Newark, was mustered into the service of the United States
for nine months, on the 3d of September, 1862 —but a short time
subsequent to the disastrous termination of General Pope's campaign in Virginia. The regiment, which consisted of eleven companies, was largely composed of representatives of the agricultural
districts, and officers and men alike, in physical strength and
robust capacities of endurance, were equal to any in the service.
The total strength of the regiment, when fully organized, was one
thousand and eighty-eight, officers and men.'
1 The original roster of the regiment was as follows:
Colonel, George W. Mindil; Lieutenant-Colonel, Edwin S. Babcock; Major, Augustus D. Blanchet; Adjutant, William H. Lambert; Quartermaster, James B. Titman;
Surgeon, John B. Richmond; Assistant-Surgeon, J. Henry Stiger; Chaplain, John
Faull. Company A-Captain, Charles F. Fernald; First Lieutenant,  
Second Lieutenant, Robert M. Pettit.   Company B-Captain, John T. Alexander;
First Lieutenant, Jacob M. Stewart; Second Lieutenant, George Hance. Company C
-Captain, David S. Allen; First Lieutenant, Ferdinand V. Wolfe; Second Lieutenant,
Henry A. McLaughlin. Company D-Captain, Thomas Anderson; First Lieutenant,
Nathaniel K. Bray; Second Lieutenant, John B. Grover. Company E-Captain, George
W. Crane; First Lieutenant, James Peters; Second Lieutenant, David B. Muchmore.
Company F-Captain, Daniel Bailey; First Lieutenant, George W. Cook; Second
Lieutenant, George Forbes. Company G-Captain, James Plant; First Lieutenant,
George S. Estin; Second Lieutenant, Joseph A. Proctor.  Company H —Captain,
Samuel Dennis; First Lieutenant, John M. Rosencrance; Second Lieutenant, Jesse
Rosencrance.  Company I-Captain, Alfred H. Condict; First Lieutenant, Peter
Churchfield; Second Lieutenant, David H. Ayres. Company K —Captain, Edward S.
Baldwin; First Lieutenant, Robert W. Simpson; Second Lieutenant, Jacob McConnell. Company L-Captain, Henry F. Willis; First Lieutenant, Stephen H. Marsh;
Second-Lieutenant, Joseph C. Bower.
2 New Jersey's quota, under the present call, being one hundred and sixty men in
excess of ten full regiments, and the Twenty-seventh being the last to leave the State,
received the extra complement of men, thus rendering it when in the field one of the
largest regiments in the service.
70




554               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
Having been supplied with arms, equipments and clothing, the
regiment, about the 3d of October, received orders to prepare for
the field.  Up to this time, however, no Colonel had been selected,
it being impossible for the officers to choose from the numerous
applicants for the position.  Finally, however, Captain George WV.
Mindil, who had already attained distinction in the field, was, upon
the strength of testimonials and representations from gentlemen
who knew  his eminent capabilities for command, elected  to the
post,3 and on the afternoon of the 9th, the regiment left Newark
for Washington, where it arrived on the morning of the 11th, being
assigned a temporary  camp on East Capitol Hill.   Here, large
Sibley tents being obtained, a fine, regular encampment was established, and the regiment was put under the discipline and course
of instruction and drill necessary to render it efficient in time of
action.  The officers, without exception, were compelled to attend
schools of instruction, to recite lessons in tactics, and to listen to
lectures on the more practical duties of the soldier. On the 29th
of October, the regiment crossed into Virginia, and, after a few
days' encampment near Fort Albany, proceeded to a point on the
Allendale road, about one mile and a half from  Alexandria, where
it went into camp on elevated ground.3   Here, the Twenty-seventh
was temporarily  brigaded  with  the  Twenty-fifth  New  Jersey,
3 The circumstances under which Colonel Mindil was chosen are as follows: The
officers being unable to make a selection from the numerous applicants, applied to
Cortlandt Parker, Esq., for advice. That gentleman in his correspondence with his
intimate friend, General Kearney, had often heard of Captain George W. Mindil, one
of the General's Aids, as having greatly distinguished himself at Williamsburg and
elsewhere. Subsequently, when General Kearney was killed, Captain Mindil met Mr.
Parker at Newark, and the latter feeling an interest in the career of the young officer,
naturally watched his after progress. When, therefore, he was consulted as to the
Colonelcy of the Twenty-seventh, he at once thought of Captain M., then on McClellan's staff, and immediately summoning him to Newark, accompanied him to the camp
of the regiment. Here he was presented to the officers in some flattering remarks,
embodying General Kearney's estimate of his talent for command, and was at once
honored by a unanimous election. Colonel Mindil was at this time but one month
over nineteen years of age, but his splendid testimonials from Kearney, McClellan,
Banks, Heintzelman, Birney and others, were justly considered conclusive as to his
soldierly qualities.
Colonel Mindil, in honor of his former chief, gave this camp the name of "Camp
Philip Kearney," the Colonel establishing his headquarters at the very house which
had been occupied by General Kearney one year previous, when in command of the
First New Jersey Brigade.




THE TWENTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT.                555
Fifteenth Connecticut, and two (nine months') regiments from
Maine, the whole under command of General Silas Casey, then
commanding the provisional troops in front of Washington. In
this camp, the regiment remained about a month, performing constant and laborious duty.  Drills, reviews and inspections were
frequent, and actual picket duty was carefully performed.
On the 1st of December, the regiment received orders, in connection with the Twenty-fifth New Jersey, Thirteenth New Hampshire, Fifteenth Connecticut, and some other brigades of new troops,
to report to General Burnside as a re-inforcement, preparatory to
his attack on the Confederates then occupying the heights of Fredericksburg.  On the evening of the 10th, after a march of much
hardship, the regiment reported for duty within the Union lines,
and was at once assigned to the Second Brigade, First Division,
Ninth Army Corps-the division being under the temporary command of Brigadier-General W. W. Burns, and the corps under
Brigadier-General 0. B. Wilcox. Thus far, the Twenty-seventh
had known nothing of the conflicts and perils of the field  it had
come now into the very thick of the danger, and was to engage in
actual hostilities. But a single day had passed, when orders were
received to cook three days' rations, supply each man with sixty
rounds of cartridge, and prepare for actual service on the day following. The foe swarming along the opposite heights was again
to be assailed.
On the night of the 11th, the regiment left camp and bivouacked
in line of battle in an open field near the place of crossing opposite
the city. On the morning of the 12th, it was one of the first to cross
the Rappahannock on the first bridge laid, and as soon as over was
assigned to an important position in the second line, behind the
gas-works and gasometer, to act asa support with the other regiments of the brigade to the main part of the Ninth Corps, already
fiercely engaged beyond the town with the enemy who had retreated
to a stone wall, behind which they made a stand, and from which
they poured such a destructive fire into our advance that further
progress seemed impossible. The position of the Twenty-seventh,
although removed and partially screened from the musketry of the




556            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
enemy, was plainly visible to his artillerists on the crest beyond the
plain, and these lost no time in sending their compliments in the
shape of shot and shell. Fortunately, however, although exposed
to this annoying fire from morning until night-many of the shells
exploding within the lines of the regiment-none were either
killed or wounded, the men remaining cool and collected throughout. During the night the regiment rested on its arms in the position it had taken, whence, on the morning of the 13th, it was
moved, together with the Seventy-ninth New York (Highlanders)
and the Second Michigan, still further to the left, so as to connect
the right of the army with the left (General Franklin), which had
crossed during the night and taken position.  The duty of the
Twenty-seventh in this position was to remain on the defensive,
holding the connection* while troops on either side made the attack.
This duty was satisfactorily performed, the regiment holding its
position with ease, while the battle raged furiously all around it.
Late in the afternoon, the left of the line appearing to be driven
back, the Twenty-seventh was moved forward at the "doublequick," for a distance of half a mile, where, under a heavy fire of
shell and musketry, it formed line of battle with parade precision,
coming on the right by file into line (a difficult movement under
fire), with the utmost regularity. The enemy, however, deeming
"discretion the better part of valor," promptly retired on the
approach of re-inforcements to our weakened line, and the Twentyseventh was again deprived of an opportunity for a close encounter, bivouacking on the plain, under arms, for the night.  On the
morning of the 14th, it took up its old position in the center, and
the same night, the attack having been abandoned, retired with the
army across the river, reacinng its old encampment just before
dawn on the 15th.
Although the regiment was not brought into close and actual
conflict during this unfortunate battle, it was sufficiently exposed
to test the bravery and trustworthiness of the officers and men; and
the rapidity with which they advanced when ordered forward to
the assistance of their comrades, the celerity and regularity with
which they fell into line under fire, and their eagerness to advance




THE TWENTY-SEVENTH  REGIMENT.                        557
and attack, demonstrated conclusively that if they had met the foe,
they would have done their duty steadily and bravely.
The regiment remained in camp without change, undergoing
instruction in discipline and drill, until the 24th of January, 1863,
when it was ordered to the front in support of Pettit's Battery of
rifled guns, in position on the river, commanding Franklin's crossing.  At this point the regiment had its camp on a commanding
plain, immediately in rear of the battery and in full sight, not only
of the rebel pickets on that front, but of the entire rebel army —
only the narrow river, here but fifty yards wide, separating them
from the foe. In this encampment, named " Camp E. V. Sumner,"
(in honor of the brave commander of the Right Grand Division,
to which the Twenty-seventh was attached), the regiment remained
for over a fortnight, daily going through the routine of parades,
reviews, inspections and drills, but without receiving a single shot
from  the enemy.  On the 11th of February, the regiment, with
the remainder of the corps, proceeded to Aquia Creek, whence it
was transferred by steamer to Newport News, disembarking at that
point on the 13th, and at once occupying a camp about a mile from
the landing. The object of this movement was not- known to the
troops, who speculated largely as to their probable destination; but
whatever point it was designed they should assail in that quarter,
the field of operations was never reached, the movements of the
rebel forces rendering the presence of the corps indispensably
necessary  in a far distant (and  different) field.  The Twentyseventh, however, anticipating a perhaps protracted  stay, established its camp with great care,4 and prepared to enjoy all the
4 For a fine description of this camp, we quote from a letter of Honorable John Hill,
who, after visiting the regiment, wrote as follows to the Morristown Jerseymcan of April
2d, 1863:' There are some beautiful encampments here, which extend some three
miles from the landing up along the banks of the James River. It is a fine sight;
Camp Burnside, the camp of the Twenty-seventh Regiment, is one of the finest camps
here. How to find it, I was told by a gentleman who had been there, to take the left
hand road from the landing, go up one and a half miles and' the finest looking camp
there was the Twenty-seventh New Jersey.' Another said,'ask for the handsomest
looking camp, and they will tell you it belongs to the Twenty-seventh New Jersey.'
And so it turned out. It is beautifully laid out with eleven streets, fifty feet wide each,
with sidewalks of six additional feet, the streets being graded and guttered on each
side. The main street or avenue runs up through the center one hundred feet wide, at
the head of which are the field officers' tents, with a street fifty feet wide in front of




558              NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
comforts possible to its position-meanwhile giving attention to
drill, regimental and  brigade-Colonel Mindil temporarily commanding the brigade in the absence of the brigade commander.
So proficient did it become in this respect, that it soon enjoyed the
reputation of being the finest drilled regiment in the corps, leading
the officers to recommend Colonel Mindil, in view of his labors in
this behalf, to the Congressional delegation of the State for promotion  to Brigadier-General.  The President, as was afterwards
ascertained, so far approved of the request as to place the Colonel's
name on his list, and the appointment would, in all probability,
have been made, had not the Senate, during the same month, limited
the number of Generals.
On the 18th of March, orders were received to prepare at once
for a movement. Longstreet, with a considerable rebel force, was
threatening our lines at Suffolk, and the Third  Division of the
corps had already crossed over to Norfolk and passed to the front
to resist him.  The Twenty-seventh, informed of this movement,
expected to follow; but it had a far different task before it, the
real destination of the remainder of the corps being Kentucky, in
which State the rebel partizan leaders, Morgan, Pegram, Duke and
Forrest, were committing the most alarming depredations. General
Burnside having been assigned to the command of the Department
of the Ohio, with headquarters at Cincinnati, had asked for his
old corps to operate with him  in expelling the rebel marauders,
and in the future  (and  then contemplated) movement into the
mountains of East Tennessee, and this request had been promptly
them, and then came the line officers' streets and their tents. In the center of the
encampment and in the middle of the avenue, a pole was erected and a beautiful arch
of evergreens, over which waved the Star Spangled Banner. In front of each tent is
placed a beautiful holly tree, about ten or twelve feet high; the walks and streets being
kept as clean and smooth as a floor. The tents were of the'A' pattern, and being
new, presented a fine appearance. The encampment was like a neat little village, the
whole being planned and laid out under the superintendance of Colonel Mindil, who
has an eye to the comfort of his men, and always makes it a point to select a good
camp. "
Major-Gencral 0. B. Wilcox, commanding the division, wrote to Colonel Mindil
about the same date as the above, as follows: "I am proud of your connection with
my division, and from the fine appearance and good instruction of your present regiment, I am happy to observe your military talents are still employed with credit to
yourself and to the advantage of the service."




THE TENTY-SENTSEVNTI REGIMENT.               559
granted. On the morning of the 19th of March, the Twentyseventh broke camp and marched to the landing, where it embarked
on the 25th, on the steamer John A. Warner, and proceeded to
Baltimore.  Thence it was carried by rail to Parkersburg, West
Virginia, where it was again transferred to a steamer and conveyed
to Cincinnati, that city being reached on the morning of the 2 tth.
General Burnside had preceded his troops to that point, and the
loyal people of the city, as regiment after regiment arrived, extended to the weary men the most cordial and hospitable welcome.
The large market-house, and even the adjoining streets, were filled
with tables, heaped with edibles of every description, and day and
night the most beautiful of the city's patriotic daughters were in
attendance to serve the hungry soldiers. Shortly before noon on
the 27th, the Twenty-seventh Regiment landed on the levee. and
in column by companies, with arms bright and glistening, marched
into the city, welcomed by the cheers of the populace, and reviewed
by General Burnside from the balcony of the Burnet House, as
it passed, the men cheering lustily for the commander whom they
had already learned to love and trust. At the market-house, the
troops stacked arms and partook of a most sumptuous meal, after
which, returning to the river, they were ferried over to Covington,
Kentucky, and the same evening took cars for Lexington, then
threatened and in danger-being the first regiment from the East
to move into central Kentucky in aid of our cavalry, who, weak
in numbers, were heroically struggling against the advancing forces
of the enemy.
As guerillas abounded in all parts of Kentucky at that time,
the train conveying the Twenty-seventh was obliged to proceed
very slowly, and it was morning before Lexington was reached.
Here the corps was to assemble preparatory to assuming the defensive. The rebel General Pegram, who was advancing by the Danville turnpike, had, however, succeeded in driving our advanced
forces beyond Kentucky River, and they had fallen back to a position at Heckman's Bridge, to await reinforcements. The Twentyseventh was at once sent by train to Nicholasville, fourteen miles
distant, arriving there at noon on the 28th, and proceeding imme



560           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
diately to Heckman's Bridge, thus relieving the Union cavalry,
who went in pursuit of the rebels on another road. The regiment
being ordered to continue in support, that evening reached " Camp
Dick Robinson," having marched a distance of seventeen miles
(loaded down with knapsack, canteen and haversack), in six hours.
General Gilmore, commanding our cavalry, having overtaken and
beaten the rebels near Monticello, the Twenty-seventh went into
camp on the turnpike about half a mile from the Robinson House,
picketing the road to Lancaster and keeping an advanced guard on
the Danville Road near the crossing on Kentucky River, where the
enemy had destroyed the bridge. The regiment soon arranged a
handsome camp, and for a few days lived in luxurious style, being
within reach of all the luxuries which " the blue grass region"
afforded.  Meanwhile, however, Burnside was pushing back the
rebels on all the roads by which they had approached, and it soon
became necessary for the Twenty-seventh, in order to keep abreast
of the advancing line, to move forward also along the road on
which it had been placed. Accordingly, early on the morning of
the 11th of April, the march was resumed, Stanford, twenty miles
distant, being reached at sunset. Here the Twenty-seventh was
joined by the regiments of the brigade with which it had acted at
Fredericksburg and Newport News, and another period of rest and
enjoyment was had, the community being intensely loyal and contributing in every possible way to the comfort of the men. But
the rebels were still committing their characteristic depredations in
the southern counties, and vigorous action was urgently demanded.
Accordingly General S. P. Carter, a loyal Tennesseean, who commanded the district in which the Twenty-seventh was serving,
planned an expedition to drive the marauders beyond the limits of
the State-for this purpose organizing a force consisting of five
regiments of cavalry at Somerset, Kentucky (who were then
picketing and holding the line of the Cumberland River, which
formed the dividing line between the opposing forces), and a bri
gade of infantry. The cavalry brigade, with a battery of mountain howitzers, was placed under command of Colonel Wolford of
the First Kentucky Cavalry, a loyal and brave soldier defending




THE TWENTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT.                561
the soil of his native State, while the infantry brigade, consisting
of the Twenty-seventh New Jersey, Second Tennessee, and One
Hundred and Third Ohio, with six rifled Rodman ten pounders of
Wildrick's Indiana Battery, was put under command of Colonel
Mindil-General Carter having command of the whole. The cav
alry being some twenty-five miles in advance, it was necessary for
the infantry to join them before the real movement could commence, and accordingly, on the afternoon of April 25th, the
Twenty-seventh, with the other regiments assigned for the expedition, moved out fiom its camp, and on the evening of the 26th,
reached Somerset.  On the following morning, the expedition
started, the cavalry moving on different roads, intending to cross
at some shallow fords above and below Stigold's Ferry.  The
infantry being ordered to cross at a point some six or seven miles
below the ferry, marched briskly forward during the entire day,
encamping at night in line of battle, and the next morning fording
Fishing Creek, pushed on to Mill Springs on the Cumberland.
Here it was found that the current was too strong and the river
too deep to admit of fording, and there being no boats, the command, on the morning of the 29th, returning towards Somerset,
moved to a position on the Monticello road, about a mile and a half
from the Stigold Ferry, where it encamped. Meanwhile, the cavalry had effected a passage, and only awaited the arrival of the
infantry to attack the enemy.  On the 30th, Mindil's Brigade,
crossing the river in barges, pushed forward some ten miles, with the
cavalry in advance, and on May 1st reached Monticello, the cavalry
driving the enemy from  the village after a stubborn resistance.
Here preparations were made for a further engagement, should the
enemy return to the assault, but the latter, being badly whipped,
hastily crossed the line and sought cover in the mountains of East
Tennessee. The expedition having thus accomplished its object, it
was decided to return, and the cavalry having joined the infantry after pursuing the enemy to a point beyond Travisville, Tennessee, the
whole command set out for Somerset. On reaching Stigold's Ferry,
on the morning of the 6th, it was found that the small boats had
been removed, but in their place were two large, open flats, which
71




562           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLIOT.
could be pulled across by means of ropes stretching from shore to
shore.  The Second Tennessee and One Hundred and Third Ohio
crossed in safety, as did also the greater portion of the Twentyseventh; but three companies of the latter were less fortunate.
After the crossing of that portion of the command already named,
the artillery and horses were placed in the larger flat to be ferried
over on the lower rope, leaving the upper cable for the smaller
boat, containing portions of Companies L. B and C, with a few
men from other companies of the Twenty-seventh.  These flats
were pulled across the stream, the current of which was at the
rate of six miles an hour, by four men standing in the bow of each
boat, who passed one hand over the other on the rope, taking care
never to loosen the grasp of one hand until the other was firmly
placed. As the flat containing almost the last detachment of the
Twenty-seventh, some fifty men, had reached the middle of the
stream, the men who were pulling it across (and who were experts),
suddenly and unaccountably loosened their hold on the rope, and
the boat swinging around, broadside to the current, drifted rapidly
down the stream towards the'lower rope, by means of which the
artillery was crossing. The situation was a perilous one, but had
the men remained cool, and carefully and quickly passed the lower
rope over their heads, the danger might still have been escaped,
since the boat would either have drifted ashore, or the occupants
been relieved by means of other boats. Unfortunately, however,
many of the men became excited, and as they neared the lower
rope, a number leaped up suddenly to grasp it, thinking thereby to
stay the progress of the flat. But this movement had directly the
contrary effect, the sudden rush to the one side, and the abrupt
check to the progress of the boat, causing it to dip, fill with water,
and precipitate the men headlong into the river. The men were
heavily loaded with their marching accoutrements, rendering swimming impossible, while to add to their peril, many, as they fell in
together, instinctively grasped their comrades for support, and so
both the supporters and the supported were only carried down the
sooner.  A few managed to reach the shore, while others clung to
the rope until relieved; but the gallant and veteran officer, Gaptain




THE TWENTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT.                   563
Alexander, with thirty-two men, were carried to the bottom  and
drowned.  Such a calamity, while the men were yet exultant over
the success of their expedition, was indeed distressing, and fell
with a most saddening effect upon the regiment. To perish thus
after having escaped the bullets of the foe, and with but a single
month lying between them  and their homes, was lamentable,
indeed; but these thirty-three unfortunates were patriots none the
less because they went down under the river's tides, with their
armor on, rather than in the din and smoke of battle. They died
in the Nation's cause, and left the martyr's heritage to all who
hold them  dear.  Of the whole number who perished, nineteen
were from  Rockaway township, seven from  Roxbury, and three
from Randolph, in Morris County, while three were from  Walpack
and one from Stillwater, in Sussex County.  Lieutenant Pierson,
afterwards the gallant Adjutant of the Thirty-third regiment, was
among those precipitated into the water, but his presence of mind
saved him-clinging to the upturned boat until relief was sent him.
Some of the bodies of the drowned were afterwards recovered,
floating on the surface, and decently interred, being subsequently,
in some cases, removed to New Jersey.  The following are the
names of those who perished, with the companies to which they
were attached:
CoMiPANY A-Cornelius Derrom, Georgc Emory, Andrew Dickson, Gcorge A. Ligafus.
COMPANY B-Captain John T. Alexander, First Sergeant Albert D. Wiggins, Erastus Brant.
CoMPANY C-Corporal Charles Stephens, John B. McPeak, Benjamin Stoney, Edward
Dolen, Amos G. Stephens, Andrew J. Willets, Andrew J. Young.
COMPANY L-Joseph Closs, Jesse Demouth, Lemuel Degraw, James H. Fuller, Lewis
0. Green, B. K. Miller, John McCloskey, Edward Nichols, William Ockabock, William
Weaver, Thomas Odell, James O'Neill, Gideon Bosledo, Rolson Peer, Wilson Pettinger,
George Shawger, Eliakim Sanders, Samuel S. Smith, James Shaw.
On the 8th of May, the regiment re-occupied its old camp near
Somerset, after an eventful campaign of ten days, in which it had
marched one hundred and fifty-six miles, making on an average,
deducting rests, twenty-five miles a day. Indeed, but for the
deplo-able incident on the Cumberland, the career of the Twentyseventh, up to this time, would have been, not merely in all things
successful, but a pleasant one as well.  It had travelled over a




564             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
thousand miles from  home, had performed splended service, and
had gained a most enviable reputation.  Its crowning  service,
however, was yet to be performed; its chief honor, and one which
will attach always to its history, was yet to be won.
Late in the month of May, General Grant, who was vigorously
pressing the siege of Vicksburg, and who needed reinforcements
to enable him  to complete the brilliant campaign which terminated
in the capture of that stronghold, called upon General Burnside
for aid, and the latter at once took measures to send to him  the
greater part of the Ninth Corps.  The term  of service of the
Twenty-seventh ended on the 3d of June, but notwithstanding this,
the regiment on the 4th took up the line of march with the rest of
the brigade, who were ordered to Louisville and Covington, for
embarkation down the Mississippi.  Reaching a point near Heckman's Bridge, however, the regiment was stopped by orders of
General Burnside-that officer needing their services in Kentucky
(now largely stripped of troops), for a few days longer, and not
deeming it proper, in view of the expiration of their term of service, to send them  to the Mississippi.  At this point the regiment
remained until the 15th, when orders were received to march to
Nicholasville and take the cars for Cincinnati, homeward bound,
as soon as possible. Immediately upon the receipt of these instructions, Colonel Mindil issued his last official order to the regiment as
follows:
" HEADQUARTERS TWENTY-SEVENTH NEW JERSEY VOLUNTEERS, }
" CIMP FAREWELL," NEAR NICHOLASVILLE, KENTUCKY, June 15, 1863.
"I. In compliance with instructions received from Department Headquarters, this
regiment will be in readiness to march to the railroad depot at Nicholasville at daylight
in the morning.
" II. The troops will be clad in their best uniforms, the knapsacks must be neatly and
squarely packed and the overcoats carefully folded and strapped on the knapsack.
"III. No straggling will be permitted, nor must the men leave the ranks for any cause
whilst passing through cities and towns.
"IV. The Colonel commanding sincerely trusts that on this, their homeward trip, tile
officers and soldiers of the Twenty-seventh Regiment will conduct themselves in the
orderly and soldierly manner which has heretofore characterized them, and which has
gained for them so bright a record.
"By order of                                 Colonel GEORGE WC. MINDIL.
"R. W. SIMPSON, A. A."
The march to Nicholasville was made in fine order, and on the same
evening the regiment reached Covington.  On the following morn



THE TWENTY-SEVENTH  REGIMENT.                          565
ing, while in  Cincinnati, whither he had gone to report to General
Burnside, Colonel Mindil learned of the movement of Lee's Army
into Pennsylvania, and that the Pennsylvania Central Railroad was
probably in rebel hands.   This being the route by  which  the
Twenty-seventh  was to  return, Colonel Mindil at once  determined  to  hasten  forward  (instead  of taking a more  circuitous
route), hoping tc be able to render some important service, and
possibly  to  unite  with  the  army  of General Meade  at some
point  on  the  way.  General Burnside  regarding  that  as  the
crisis of the war, and knowing that the Government was sadly in
need of troops-many of the regiments of the  Potomac Army
having availed themselves of the expiration of their terms of service to return home-expressed the hope that the Twenty-seventh
would fall in with the views of its Colonel; and the men needed
no second appeal. On the same day, the following complimentary
general order was printed and distributed to the men of the regimernt:
" HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO, l
CINCINNATI, OHIO, June 15, 1863.
" General Order, Nro. 102.
"In withdrawing the Twenty-seventh Regiment New Jersey Volunteers from the front,
in order that they may return to their homes at the expiration of their term of enlistment,
the commanding General desires to express his regret at parting from them. In every
position in which the requirements of the service have placed them, they have proved
themselves brave, efficient and reliable soldiers, and have made for themselves in this
command a clear record, worthy of the gallant State whose name they bear.
"Should this regiment, in the event of a continuance of the war, again take the field,
the commanding General will be glad to receive them as tried soldiers once more under
his command.
"By order of                                       Major-General BURNSIDE.
" LEWIS RICHMOND, A. A. G.5
5 About the same time General S. S. Carter, learning that the regiment was homeward bound, addressed a complimentary letter to Colonel Mindil, of which the following is an extract:
"For yourself personally, Colonel, I entertain the highest esteem, as I do for your
noble regiment, which has gained a most enviable reputation in Kentucky from the
soldierly bearing and correct deportment of both officers and men.
"Will you be pleased to give to the officers and men my appreciation of their worth,
and the regret I feel at parting with them. * * It is a matter of pride with me that
I have had the honor to command, for even a time, troops who have won for themselves such imperishable fame."
In another letter, addressed to Governor Parker, commending Colonel Mindil for
his valuable services, General Carter said of the regiment; " In them your noble State
has been well represented, her dignity and reputation well maintained. It affords me
much pleasure to give this testimony in their favor."




566              NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
On the afternoon of the 17th, the regiment crossed to Cincinnati, where, being  formed  in  close column  in mass, Colonel
Mindil in a stirring address explained to them  the situation, and
asked if they were willing to follow to the help of the army on
the soil of Pennsylvania.  The regiment responded with cheer
upon cheer of approval, declaring their readiness to proceed to
any point where they might be wanted. whereupon the Colonel at
once telegraphed President Lincoln as follows:
" CINCINNATI, OHIO, June 17, 1863-2 p. m.
"ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States:
"My regiment, eight hundred strong, whose term of service has expired, is on its
way home for muster-out. I hereby offer the services of the command for any service
in Pennsylvania during the emergency. Please advise me of your intentions.
"' GEORGE W. MINDIL, Colonel Twenty-seventh New Jersey Volunteers."
Marching from  the levee to the Soldier's Home, the regiment
partook of a bounteous repast, and after a speech from General
Burnside, in which he heartily thanked them  for their patriotism,
took the cars of the Columbus Railroad for Pittsburg, that being
deemed the most important point.  Columbus was reached at halfpast nine o'clock the same evening, the men being there also handsomely entertained by the citizens.  While there, the following
telegram was received:
" WASHINGTON, June 17, 1863-10.50 p. m.' COLONEL GEORGE W. MINDIL, Twenty-seventh New Jersey Volunteers:
" You will accept for yourself and express to your gallant regiment the thanks of
the government for your patriotic offer, which is cordially accepted. You will please
proceed with your regiment as rapidly as possible to Pittsburg, via the Ohio Central
Railroad, in order that you may stop at Wheeling, if your services should be required
there by General Brooks, who will communicate with you on the road, and you can
reach Pittsburg by that line, if he should prefer to have you there.
" E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War."
On the morning of the 18th, the regiment reached Bridgeport,
opposite Wheeling, West Virginia.  Wheeling at this time was
filled with excitement, and Colonel Mindil deemed it wise to remain
there for a day or two, but the danger having passed, the regiment,
on the morning of the 20th, under orders from  General Brooks,
again took cars for Pittsburg, where, upon its arrival, it was entertained by the loyal women of the city, who had spread tables in
the City Hall and Market-House.  The hills surrounding Pittsburg
were at this time being fortified, and the citizens and militia were




TIE TWENTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT.              567
performing garrison duty. The valleys of the Monongahela and
Youghiogeny being the key to the city, the Twenty-seventh was
ordered to proceed to Uniontown, in Fayette County, where the
old National road is intersected by the road from Morgantown,
Virginia, for the purpose of resisting and holding in check any
parties of "raiders" who might venture in this direction from
Cumberland, Maryland, where the rebels, under Echols, Imboden
and others were known to be. Uniontown was reached in four
hours on the cars of the Connelsville Railroad, the loyal inhabitants
along the route turning out in great numbers to welcome the troops
and shower upon them provisions of all descriptions. At Uniontown, the entire population flocked into the streets to honor the
regiment, and for the night every spare room in the Court House
and Market-House was placed at its disposal. The next morning,
June 21st, after a dress-parade, five companies were sent out to a
good strategic position about five miles distant, on the Morgantown
road-Major H. F. Willis, who was in command of the detachment, being instructed to picket well all approaches and to resist
the enemy, should he appear. At the same time, the six companies
constituting the right wing of the regiment, under LieutenantColonel E. S. Babcock, were ordered to a strong position on the
National road, near the village of Monroe, where a strong picket
was thrown out into the gap of the " Chestnut Ridge." Colonel
Mindil established his headquarters in the town, in order that he
might act promptly with either wing, as the emergency might
require. Here the regiment remained for three days, but no enemy
appearing, and the main column under Lee having moved more to
the east, the regiment, on the morning of the 24th, was again consolidated, and proceeded by rail to Turtle Creek, a station on the
Pennsylvania Central Railroad, twelve miles east of Pittsburg,
with instructions to guard against a rebel advance from the direction of Bedford and Somerset, and to be available for transfer to
any point on the line of the road. The regiment remained at this
point until noon of the 26th, when it proceeded to Harrisburg,
reaching there at noon of the following day. The danger to the
capital of Pennsylvania having passed, and fresh troops having




568          NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
arrived, Colonel Mindil considered his duty accomplished, and
accordingly cars were at once taken via the Allentown -and New
Jersey Central Railroads for home. The morning of the 28th
found the regiment bivouacked at Elizabethport, whence they
marched to Elizabeth, and early in the afternoon reached Newark.
Their arrival in that city was unexpected, but they nevertheless
received a hearty, spontaneous welcome, the populace greeting them
with peals of applause as they marched through the thronged
streets to Camp Frelinghuysen. On the 2d of July the regiment
was mustered. out, and the men scattered to their homes, proud
in the thought that in the darkest hour of the nation's struggle they
had given the government a full month of extra, voluntary service.
Colonel Mindil at once proceeded to Washington, where he again
offered his services, and at the request of Mr. Lincoln, personally
made, soon after returned to Newark to re-organize his gallant regiment, afterwards known as the Thirty-third, whose history will be
found elsewhere.




CHAPTER XXII.
THE  TWENTY-EIGHTH  REGIMENT.
THE  Twenty-eighth Regiment, recruited in Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Camden and Gloucester Counties, was mustered into
service at Freehold, on the 22d of September, 1862, its field officers
being as follows: Colonel, Moses N. Wisewell; Lieutenant Colonel, E. A. L. Roberts; Major, S. K. Wilson; Adjutant, William
A. Gulick; Chaplain, C. J. Page; Surgeon, William D. Newell;
Assistant Surgeon, Benjamin N. Baker. Colonel Wisewell, who
took charge of the regiment at its organization, was a man of fine
intellectual capacity, and soon acquired a marked hold on the confidence of the men, which he retained until November following,
when, obtruding upon his command, in a public address, certain
offensive avowals in reference to the war and the Gubernatorial contest then in progress in New Jersey, he became obnoxious to a large
portion of the regiment. His courage, however, was undoubted,
and at the battle of Fredericksburg he led his regiment with great
gallantry, falling severely wounded and being carried from  the
field, to which he was unable to return until June, 1863. Lieutenant-Colonel Roberts came from New York, and commanded the
regiment from the 14th of December, 1862, until the 2d of January ensuing, when he was discharged for tendering his resignation
in the face of the enemy. Lieutenant-Colonel John A. Wildrick,
who had been a Captain in the Second Regiment, then assumed
command, and by his sound judgment and wise exercise of authority, soon made the regiment one of the most effective in the brigade
to which it belonged. He led the command with great bravery in
the battle of Chancellorsville, where he was taken prisoner, but
being exchanged, returned to the field shortly after and was discharged with the regiment.  Major Wilson commanded the regi72




570           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
ment for a short time in January, 1863, and also in the following
May, and was discharged with it upon the expiration of its term
of service.  Surgeon Newell, during the whole term of service,
performed the duties of his position with admirable efficiency and
skill, and was ably seconded, in all his efforts to promote the comfort of the men, by his assistant, Doctor Baker. Adjutant Gulick
acquitted himself with great credit in the battle of Fredericksburg,
and was, throughout, capable and faithful, exercising a controling
influence in the regiment.  Resigning his position, he was succeeded
in March, 1863, by Adjutant B. A. Robbins, who also proved a
capable officer. The Chaplain of the regiment, who, at the time
he entered the service, was pastor of a Baptist Church in Piscataway, Middlesex County, was at all times prompt, earnest and efficient, enjoying the fullest confidence of the men, and proving at
once a guide and friend to all who needed counsel or assistance.
The regiment, nine hundred and forty strong, left Freehold on
the 4th of October, 1862, and reaching Washington on the night
of the 5th, encamped on Capitol Hill, being furnished, a few days
afterwards, with Springfield muskets.  On the 13th, it marched
into Virginia, and was attached to General Abercrombie's command. On the 1st of December, it again broke camp, and crossing
into Maryland, marched to Liverpool Point on the Lower Potomac,
where, on the 5th, it crossed to Aquia Creek, and, in the midst of
a driving snow-storm, went into camp until the 8th, when it proceeded to Falmouth.  Here it was attached to the First Brigade
(General Kimball), Third Division (General French), Second Army
Corps.  The plans for the demonstration against Fredericksburg
having been matured, and the movement of the army commenced,
on the 11th the regiment marched into position near the river,
where it remained until night-crossing into the town at sunrise on
the morning of the 12th, but not becoming engaged until the following morning.  About ten o'clock on that morning, it was
ordered into line and at once advanced upon the enemy occupying
the Heights. The advance was made in the face of a murderous
fire, but the men of the 28th, unused as they were to the perils of
desperate combat, pressed steadily forward until the plain was




THE TWENTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT.                      571
crossed and the foot of the first ridge was reached. But their
ranks, as they reached that position, were terribly thinned, not less
than one-fifth of the whole regiment having been wounded or killed.
Still, however, the command stood firm, deliberately opening fire
upon  the enemy from  the shelter of a ravine, and holding  the
position tenaciously until night put an end to the conflict. So
rapid and accurate was the fire of the rebels, that withdrawal from
the shelter of the friendly ravine would have involved, perhaps,
as serious a loss as the advance; but only the very highest courage
could have held the Twenty-eighth in the perilous position it occupied, exposed to all the fury of the enemy's attack. Darkness
coming on, the regiment withdrew to the town, leaving nearly two
hundred of the six hundred who advanced in the morning, on the
bloody field, but with its standards lustrous with the halo of brave
achievements. From first to last the men fought with the same
heroism, the same cool determination, as the veteran troops around
them. Unfortunately, the men being taken into battle with their
knapsacks, and subsequently ordered to leave them  on the field,
many of them  lost everything  they  possessed, and  afterwards
experienced much inconvenience and suffering from  the want of
supplies and comforts thus abandoned.'
During the 14th, when only two hundred  and  seventy men
could be found for duty, the regiment occupied its old position in
the town, re-crossing late on the following day. For several days
the men were without tents or blankets, and their condition was
pitiable in the extreme, a large number being sick. At length,
Upon moving to the front, General Kimball, as if fearful that the Twenty-eighth
would falter in its duty, appealed to it not to fall behind the veterans of his brigade.
He had the satisfaction of seeing before he fell on the field, that Jerseymen knew how
to do their duty as bravely as the bravest.
A letter, published in the Newark Advertiser, says of this engagement: "The
Twenty-fourth and Twenty-eighth New Jersey Regiments did splendidly. Their loss
is greater than any other regiments in the division. Colonel Wisewell conducted his
men to the charge with honor and courage. The following is the loss of the Twentyeighth: Killed, twelve men; wounded, ten officers and one hundred and forty-seven
men; missing, thirty-one men."
The official report of the engagement, furnished at a later date than the above,
places the killed at fourteen, the wounded at one hundred and forty-seven, and the
missing at twenty-nine.




572           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
however, through the intervention of Mr. Marcus L. Ward, who
visited the camp, they were supplied with proper shelter, and,
although the season was still inclement, soon forgot their sufferings
in reviving health and a restoration  of former comforts. The
regiment remained in camp, engaged in ordinary routine duties
until the 28th of April, when, Hooker's movement against the
enemy having commenced, it marched to the United States Ford,
where it was detailed for picket service. On the 30th, with the
brigade to which it was attached-composed of the Twenty-fourth
New Jersey, Fourth and Eighth Ohio, Fourteenth Indiana, and
Seventh Virginia-it led the advance in crossing the river at that
point, and pushed forward immediately to the Chancellor House.
On the 2d of May it formed in line of battle and sent out skirmishers, but was not engaged until the next day, when it was
detached from the brigade and posted in the woods, some three
or four hundred yards distant. Here a reconnoissance of the
enemy's position was at once made, when it was discovered that
the regiment was close upon the rebel line.  Soon after, before
proper dispositions could be made, the enemy struck the command
on both the front and right flank with great force, causing the line
to give way and emerge in some confusion from the woods, the
enemy pressing closely in pursuit.  The men of the Twenty-eighth,
although vastly outnumbered, behaved with characteristic gallantry,
delivering a vigorous fire as they retired and took position with
the brigade.  The loss of the regiment in the action was some
thirty in killed, wounded and missing.  During the 4th and 5th,
the brigade, commanded by Colonel Carrol, remained in line of
battle, but was not again engaged, the fighting having shifted to
another part of the line. On the 6th, the regiment withdrew from
its position and returned, with the army, to the camp near Falmouth, where it remained until the 14th of June.  Lee having
started towards the Upper Potomac, Hooker's army now moved
out in pursuit, the Twenty-eighth marching by way of Stafford
Court House and Dumfries to Fairfax Station.  Here, its term of
service having expired, it was diverted from the route pursued by
the army, and proceeded to Washington. Thence it proceeded by




THE TWENTY.-EIGHTH  REGIMENT.                         573
rail to Freehold, where it arrived  on  the 20th, and on the 6th of
July was mustered out of the service.
During the whole time that the 28th  was connected with  the
Army of the Potomac, it held a position on the immediate front,
within  a short distance of the Rappahannock, and  was, consequently, at all times exposed to attack by " raiding" parties of the
enemy. Extraordinary vigilance and activity were thus constantly
required, as every alarm, whether trifling or otherwise, summoned
the men into line, there to remain for hours, and sometimes for a
day and a night at a time, exposed to all the inclemency of midwinter, as well as many privations which regiments in the rear
never experienced. It is simple truth to say of the regiment that
wherever placed, it did its duty courageously  and  efficiently, and
that though serving in the dark hours of the war, it never lost its
faith in the Republic.2
2 The following statistics exhibit the localities in which the several companies of the
regiment were raised, with other facts of interest:
Company A was recruited from the counties of Middlesex and Monmouth. Captain,
B. F. Lloyd; First Lieutenant, J. R. Appleby; Second Lieutenant, Wesley Stoney.
Captain Lloyd was taken sick while the regiment lay near Washington, and died soon
after in hospital. Lieutenant Appleby then took command of the company, but did
not hold the position, being discharged soon after the battle of Fredericksburg. Lieutenant Stoney saw service with the three months' men, and was a brave and efficient
officer; was promoted to the Captaincy after the death of Captain Lloyd, and the discharge of Appleby. J. Dobson and H. D. B. Lefferts were appointed First and Second
Lieutenants after the promotion of Stoney.
Company B was recruited in Middlesex County. Captain, H. S. Disbrow; First
Lieutenant, J. H. Gulick; Second Lieutenant, Alexander Laird. Captain Disbrow was
a gallant officer, with rare aptitude for command, and always shared with his men the
hardships to which they were exposed. He led his company with conspicuous bravery
at Fredericksburg, and after the dismissal of Lieutenant-Colonel Roberts was for a
time in command of the regiment. Lieutenant Gulick had seen service with the Ellsworth Zouaves, and was among the bravest of the brave. Generous to a fault, and
ever ready for duty, he was universally esteemed in the regiment.
Company C was raised in Middlesex County. Captain, Joseph C. Letson; First
Lieutenant, William W. Stelle; Second Lieutenant, S. K. Conovor. Captain Letson
was an accomplished officer, and led his men gallantly at Fredericksburg in the position
of acting Major, being wounded in the early part of the day by a rifle-ball through the
arm, but still holding his position until the close of the engagement. When his company broke camp to move on Chancellorsville, he was at home on furlough, but at once
hurried forward and joined his command before the battle, being again severely
wounded. Lieutenant Stelle, a genuine Christian soldier, fought heroically at Chancellorsville, and was at all times found prepared for duty, however arduous or perilous.
Lieutenant Conover, also a brave and faithful officer, was severely wounded at Chancellorsville, and did not return to the regiment.




574                NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Company D was recruited in Middlesex County. Captain, William H. Dunham;
First Lieutenant, Augustus Hatfield; Second Lieutenant, William J. Cook. Lieutenant Hatfield displayed throughout true soldierly qualities, and was engaged in all
the actions in which his company took a part. He for a time filled the post of Quartermaster with zeal and fidelity. Lieutenant Cook failed to make a record worthy of
commendation.
Company E was raised mainly in Ocean County. Captain, William Hawkins; First
Lieutenant, M. C. Stricklin; Second Lieutenant, George B. Hendrickson. Captain
Hawkins was dismissed the service in disgrace, in consequence of a letter in which he
stigmatized imprudently the officers of the government. Lieutenant Stricklin died
during the winter of 1862-3. Lieutenant Hendrickson was made Captain after the dismissal of Hawkins and the death of the First Lieutenant.
Company F was raised in Middlesex County. Captain, Isaac Inslee, Jr.; First
Lieutenant, Benjamin A. Robbins; Second Lieutenant, J. W. Westerfield. Captain
Inslee was a man of ardent patriotism, and entered with his whole soul upon the
soldier's work. He studied closely the welfare of his men, and was universally
respected. Always at his post, proud of his command, and solicitous to promote its
efficiency, no officer in the regiment has a better record, either as a disciplinarian or a
fighter. Lieutenant Robbins, who was promoted to the Adjutancy, was a capable
officer, and discharged promptly every duty imposed upon him. Lieutenant Westerfield being compelled, on account of sickness, to leave the service some two months
after the regiment entered the field, private S. Marsh was appointed Second Lieutenant from the ranks.
Company G was recruited principally in Gloucester County. Lewis Schoch, Captain;
Jesse C. Chew, First Lieutenant; Charles F. Lukens, Second Lieutenant. Captain
Schoch commanded his company creditably at Fredericksburg, but being soon after
prostrated by sickness, did not participate in the subsequent experiences of the regiment.  Lieutenant Lukens was an exemplary officer; he fought bravely, and was
wounded at Fredericksburg; was then made First Lieutenant, and commanded the
company at Chancellorsville. T. Appleget, who succeeded him as Second Lieutenant,
entered the service as a private in Company B, was then selected Adjutant's Clerk,
and afterwards to take the place of Lieutenant Laird, in Company B; subsequent to
the battle of Fredericksburg, had charge of the Adjutant's department until February
11, 1863, when he was commissioned as Lieutenant in Company G, and served as
Acting Adjutant until the appointment of Lieutenant Robbins to that position, on
March 30th. IHe was with Company G, at Chancellorsville, and acquitted himself
with great credit.
Company II was recruited chiefly in Camden County. M. S. Peacock, Captain;
Benjamin C. Rulon, First Lieutenant; John T. Smith, Second Lieutenant. Captain
Peacock was physically unfit for service during a great part of the time he was in
command. Lieutenant Rulon commanded the company at the battle of Chancellorsville, and was made Captain prior to his discharge. Lieutenant Smith was with his
company during its whole period of service, and participated in all the actions in
which it was engaged.
Company I was raised in Middlesex County. Captain, Joseph L. Crowell; First
Lieutenant, James O. Willett; Second Lieutenant, James Fothergill. Captain Crowell
led his company at Fredericksburg, and was slightly wounded. Sergeant John H.
Tyrrill, of this company, fought with great bravery at Fredericksburg, losing a foot;
he was afterwards made Lieutenant, but never returned to the field.
Company K was raised in Middlesex County. Captain, George Storrer; First Lieutenant, James Bresnahan; Second Lieutenant, Thomas Conk. Sergeant J. T. Bolton,
of this company, displaying great gallantry at Fredericksburg, was made a Lieutenant,
and did much to promote the efficiency of the company.




CHAPTER XXIII.
THE TWENTY-NINTH  REGIMENT.
TIlE Twenty-ninth regiment, as we have already seen, was raised
in Monmouth  Countyl and rendezvoused  at Camp Vredenburg,
located on the old battle-ground near Freehold.  The regiment was
mustered into the service on the 20th of September, 1862, and left
for Washington on the 28th, with thirty-nine officers and eight
hundred  and  sixty-six  enlisted men.  Reaching Washington on
the 30th, it went into camp on East Capitol Hill, where it was permanently  brigaded  with  the  Twenty-first, Twenty-fourth   and
Thirty-first New  Jersey Regiments, under command  of Colonel
1 All the companies of this regiment, with a single exception, were recruited and
fostered by the care of the various township committees of the county-Company A
being from Ocean, B from Raritan, C from Manalapan and Millstone, D from Middletown, E from Freehold and Marlboro, F from Shrewsbury, G from Holmdel and
Atlantic, I from Matawan, and K from Wall.  Company II was raised in Ocean
county, which, having originally been a part of Monmouth, was still felt to be
identified with the latter.
The original roster of the regiment was as follows 
Colonel, Edwin F. Applegate; Lieutenant-Colonel, William R. Taylor; Major,
Joseph K. Davison; Adjutant, Edgar Whitaker; Surgeon, Henry G. Cooke; Assistant
Surgeons, Ezra M. Hunt, Judson G. Shackleton; Chaplain, Rev. L. C. Rogers; Quartermaster, Peter J. Hendrickson; Quartermaster-Sergeant, Jacob R. Schenck; Commissary-Sergeant, Peter J. Annack; Hospital Stewart, M. I. Cook; Sergeant-Major,
Burk E. Stout; Adjutant's Clerk, J. Conover Morfort. Company A-Captain, G. H.
Green; First Lieutenant, C. H. Emmons; Second Lieutenant, William Aumick. Company B-Captain, Thomas Robinson; First Lieutenant, William Warner; Second
Lieutenant, George W. Taylor. Company C-Captain, Thomas A. Slack; First Lieutenant, Hiram H. Mount; Second Lieutenant, John T. Rowell. Company )D-Captain, Joseph T. Field; First Lieutenant, Charles Sufburrow; Second Lieutenant,
Larue N. White. Comnpany E-Captain, Joseph T. Lake; First Lieutenant, William
H. Conk; Second Lieutenant, George S. Vanderhoof. Company i —Captain, Robert
R. Mount; First Lieutenant, David S. Stevens; Seeond Lieutenant, Joseph P. Jones.
(Company G-Captain, John H. Heyers; First Lieutenant, James H. Magee; Second
Lieutenant, Charles S. Vanmater. Company J I-Captain, Albert S. Cloke; First Lieutenant, Charles H. Kimble; Second Lieutenant, M. Perrine Gravatt. Company 1-Captain, Jeremiah V. Spader; First Lieutenant, Charles Smith; Second Lieutenant, John
N. Cuttrell. Company K —Captain, Joseph G. Staunton; First Lleutenant, Joseph L.
Allen; Second Lieutenant, David W. Emmons.




576            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Robertson of the 24th.  Here the regiment remained, awaiting
orders, until October 5th, when it was moved to the line of defences
near Tenallytown, where it was attached to the Military Construction Corps under Colonel L. O. Morris, of the Fourth New York
Artillery, with headquarters at Fort Pennsylvania.  In this service, the men of the regiment exhibited great endurance and efficiency, and won the cordial approbation of the officers in charge.
Forts Mansfield and Reno, and the contiguous covered-ways, batteries and rifle-pits being at last completed, the regiment anxiously
awaited orders for more active service; and these were not long
delayed.  On the 30th of November, it was moved to Fort Carrol,
where it was brigaded with the Twenty-second, Thirtieth, and
Thirty-first New  Jersey, and One Hundred and Thirty-seventh
Pennsylvania Regiments, under command of Colonel Bossert, of
the latter, and proceeded a distance of eighty miles down the Potomac shore, through Piscataway and Port Tobacco, to Liverpool
Point, whence the command was crossed to Aquia Creek, on December 5th.  Here the men were exposed to a severe storm, continuing for two days, from which, being without tents, they suffered
greatly. To add to their troubles, wood was scarce, and fires could
only be maintained with great difficulty. On the 7th, however,
the storm somewhat abated, and the regiment was detailed for
picket-duty on the Aquia Creek and Fredericksburg Railroad at
Potomac Creek Bridge.  A day or two subsequently, the regiment
(with the brigade) was transferred to the command of General
Patrick, then commanding the Prevost Guard of the Army of the
Potomac, and was ordered to guard the entire line of the railroad
from Aquia Creek to Stoneman's Switch, a reserve of two companies, however, remaining at the Bridge.  On the 11th, Major Davison was ordered with four companies to Falmouth, there to assume
the duties of Provost Marshal, and companies A, F, D and I, being
despatched, were engaged for some time in perilous service, such
as guarding bridges, patroling the streets of Fredericksburg, and
the like. While engaged in this service, the assault upon Fredericksburg was ih progress, and the men, patroling the city while
the conflict raged along the slopes, were exposed not only to shells




THE TWENTY-NINTHI REGIMENT.                        577
and shot, but to the perils of crumbling walls, falling about them
as they paced their rounds.  Here the detail remained  until the
stormy night of the 15th, when they were the last to withdraw,
crossing upon the upper pontoons under a fierce cannonade from
the enemy,~ which, however, did not inflict a single casualty.
From  this time until the 10th of January the regiment was engaged in various duties.  At that date, it was ordered to report to
the Third Brigade, First Division, First Army Corps, for duty in
the field, and at once marched to Belle Plain, being still brigaded
with  the  Twenty-second, Thirtieth  and  Thirty-first Regiments.
Here the regiment was first subjected to stated drills.  On the 17th,
Colonel Applegate tendered his resignation, which was accepted,
and on the 20th, Burnside having determined on another campaign,
the regiment moved out from  its camp to participate in the movement, but soon returned, the campaign having terminated as speedily as it began.  During the remainder of the winter, the Twentyninth remained in camp near Belle Plain, close  attention being
given to drills and preparation for the spring campaign.'  On the
28th of April the long expected orders were received, and the regiment advanced, the division crossing the Rappahannock on the
29th on the extreme left of our lines, some five miles below Fredericksburg, and taking position under a heavy fire from  the enemy.
The men of the Twenty-ninth, on this occasion behaved with great
steadiness.  The division held its position without drawing on  a
2 Chaplain Rogers, of this regiment, says of this withdrawal that it was conducted
with the utmost coolness, and elicited the cordial encomiums of those who witnessed it.
< Several vacancies having occurred in the field, line and staff officers, caused by the
promotion of Lieutenant-Colonel Taylor to be Colonel, Major Davison to be Lieutenant-Colonel and Captain Field, of Company D, to be Major, the resignation of Captain Green, of Company A, and First Lieutenant Smith, of Company I, and the selection of Adjutant Whitaker to be Acting Assistant Adjutant-General of Brigade,
regimental order No. 64 was issued, announcing First Lieutenant Sufburrow, of Company D, to be Captain of Company D; Second Lieutenant White, of Company D, to be
First Lieutenant of Company D, and Sergeant Taylor to be Second Lieutenant of Company D; First Lieutenant Emmons, of Company A, to be Captain of Company A,
Second Lieutenant Humach, to be First Lieutenant of Company A, and Sergeant Gillson to be Second Lieutenant of Company A; Second Lieutenant Cottrell, of Company
A, to be First Lieutenant of Company I; Quartermaster-Sergeant Schenck, to be
Second Lietcenant of Company I; and T. Commerfort, Acting Adjutant.
73




578           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
serious engagement, though picket-firing was steadily maintained,
and having accomplished its purpose in diverting the enemy's attention from the right of Hooker's Army, re-crossed on the 2d of May
under a heavy fire from the rebel batteries, the regiment losing
seven men killed and wounded.  Then, facing towards Chancellorsville, it made a forced march for the relief of the gallant army
who were there maintaining the honor of the flag under circumstances far from auspicious-reaching the part of the lines to which
it had been ordered at sunrise on the 3d. But the regiment was
not again called upon to grapple with the enemy.  Sedgwick,
meanwhile, fighting his desperate way over Saint Mary's Heights,
was repulsed, and Hooker, thinking victory impossible, withdrew
his forces and returned to his old position-the Twenty-ninth
reaching its former camp on the 7th. Here it remained, engaged
in picket and other duty until Lee started on his movement into
Maryland and Pennsylvania, when it joined with the army in the
pursuit, reaching Centerville on the 15th of June, where the brigade
was relieved from duty in the corps, its term of service having
expired. The regiment, with the brigade, continued its march to
Washington, while the remainder of the Army pushed on to overtake and vanquish Lee in his forward movement, and leaving the
Capital on the 17th, two days after reached Freehold, where, on
the 28th, it was mustered out of service.




CHAPTER XXIV.
THE THIRTIETH  REGIMENT.
THE   Thirtieth  Regiment, mainly  recruited  in  the  county  of
Somerset, was mustered into service at Flemington on the 17th of
September, 1862,' and left for Washington, one thousand and six
strong, on the 30th.   Arrived  at the Capital, it went into camp,
but soon  after proceeded  to  Tenallytown, Maryland, where  it
remained until the 30th of November, when it moved to Fort Carroll, where it was brigaded with the Twenty-second, Twenty-ninth
and Thirty-first New Jersey and One Hundred and Thirty-seventh
Pennsylvania Regiments, and under orders proceeded to Liverpool
The original roster of the regiment was as follows:
Colonel, Alexander E. Donaldson; Lieutenant-Colonel, John J. Cladek; Major,
Walter Camman; Adjutant, John W. Mann; Quartermaster, Lemuel R. Young; Surgeon, Joseph W. Wolverton; Assistant-Surgeons, Alexander Barclay, Jr., George E.
Summers; Chaplain, John S. Janeway.  Company A-Captain, Arthur S. Ten Eyck;
First Lieutenant, James D. Vanderveer; Second Lieutenant, Joseph B. Smith.  Company B-Captain,   ~; First Lieutenant, Elias W. Brant; Second Lieutenant,
Thomas Moore. Company C-Captain, Abraham Holland; First Lieutenant, Alexander Mills; Second Lieutenant, George W. Laing.  Coompan2y 1D-Captain, Barclay S.
Vail; First Lieutenant, Edward S. Barnes; Second Lieutenant, Jesse Dalrymple.
Company E —Captain, Cornelius T. Cox; First Lieutenant, James Bowman; Second
Lieutenant, Garret B. Sanborn.  Company F-Captain, Oliver A. Kibbe; First Lieutenant, Henry Lane; Second Lieutenant, Charles W. Lanning.  Company G-Captain,
George W. Day; First Lieutenant, Clark T. Hunt; Second Lieutenant, Frederick S.
Phillips.  Comtpany  — Captain, James F. Hubbard; First Lieutenant, Julius A. Fay,
Jr.; Second Lieutenant, James H. Parsell.  Coopany I-Captain, John C. Bloom;
First Lieutenant, James S. Adams; Second Lieutenant, Samuel A. Allen.  Company
J —Captain, Benjamin S. Totten; First Lieutenant, Theodore Strong, Jr.; Second
Lieutenant, Ira C. Carman, Jr.
Colonel Donaldson, commanding the regiment, at the time of his selection was
Brigadier General of the Somerset Brigade of Militia, and the rapidity with which the
regiment was recruited was largely owing to the confidence reposed in him by those
who had been associated with him in military relations. He had been editor of the
Somerset AMessenger, and was widely known politically in his own and adjacent counties.




580            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Point, on the Lower Potomac, where it crossed to Aquia Creek on
December 5th.  Here the men were exposed to a severe storm, and
being unaccustomed to the rigors of winter-life in the field, suffered
greatly, though for the most part uncomplainingly. The storm
abating, however, the regiment found comparative comfort, and
shortly after, with the brigade, was transferred to the command of
General Patrick, then commanding the Provost Guard of the Army
of the Potomac, when it was employed in post duty, guarding the
railroad, &ec. Thence it was sent to Falmouth, but did not participate in the battle of Fredericksburg, fought by General Burnside.
On the 10th of January, 1863, the regiment was ordered to report
to the Third Brigade, First Division, First Army Corps, and
marched to Belle Plain, being still brigaded with the Twentysecond, Twenty-ninth and Thirty-first New Jersey.  Later in the
month, the regiment participated in the " mud march," its experiences being essentially the same as those of the regiments just
named.  Returning to its camp at Belle Plain, it remained unemployed, except in the ordinary camp duties, until late in April,
when, General Hooker having ordered a movement against the
enemy, the Thirtieth, with its division, crossed the Rappahannock
on the extreme left of our lines, some miles below Fredericksburgthe object of the movement being to divert the attention of the
rebels while the main body of our army moved upon Chancellorsville. Taking position at the point to which it was assigned, the
regiment remained, with the brigade, without drawing on an
engagement, until Ma-y 2d, when, Hooker being hard pressed, it
moved to his relief, making a forced march to Chancellorsville, and
reaching its designated position in line early on the 3d. Here it
was expected that it would be called into action, but, although
fighting had not ceased, it escaped the perils of actual combat.
The withdrawal of our army having been determined upon, the
regiment returned to its old position, and soon after, its term  of
service having expired, marched to AVashington, whence it proceeded to New Jersey, and in due time was mustered out. Largely
composed of men of superior physical qualities, and not deficient
in soldierly spirit, the regiment, had it been at any time brought




THE THIRTIETH REGIMENT.                    581
into actual collision with the foe, would doubtless nave acquitted
itself with credit, and added to the reputation achieved by the
troops of New Jersey as stubborn, efficient fighters in the cause of
Liberty and the Union.  Not a lew of its members subsequently
became identified with other regiments, and acquitted themselves
with credit on memorable fields.




CHAPTER XXV
THE   THIRTY-FIRST   REGIMENT.
THE Thirty-first Regiment recruited in the counties of Warren
and Hunterdon, was mustered into the service at Flemington on
the 17th of September, 1862, and left that place for Washington
on the 26th.' Reaching its destination, it went into camp on East
Capitol Hill, whence it moved into Maryland, October 6th, encamping  about a mile and a half from  Tenallytown, where it was
employed in fatigue and picket duty until the 1st of December,
when it was ordered to the front. After marching through Maryland  to Liverpool Point and  crossing  to  Aquia Creek, it was
detached from the Provisional Brigade and sent to Belle Plain
to  do  guard  and provost duty.  The weather at this time was
extremly cold, and the men, unaccustomed to exposure and but
poorly provided with shelter tents, suffered greatly. Fortunately,
the log huts vacated a few  months previously by the rebels were
1 The original roster of the regiment was as follows:
Colonel, Alexander P. Berthoud; Lieutenant-Colonel, William Holt; Major, Robert
R. Honeyman; Adjutant, Martin Wyckoff; Quartermaster, Israel Wells; Surgeon,
Robert B. Browne; Assistant Surgeons, Joseph S. Cook, Nathaniel Jennings; Chaplain, John MeNair. Company A-Captain, Samuel Carhart; First Lieutenant, Leavitt
Sanderson; Second Lieutenant, Andrew A. Thompson. Company B-Captain, Joseph
W. Johnson; First Lieutenant, John C. Felver; Second Lieutenant, Frank P. Weymouth. Company C-Captain, Andrew J. Raub; First Lieutenant, Thomas T. Stewart; Second Lieutenant, Silas Hulsizer. Company D-Captain, Alexander V. Bonnell;
First Lieutenant, John C. Coon; Second Lieutenant, Andrew T. Connett. Company
E —Captain, Woodbury D. Holt; First Lieutenant, William L. Rodenburgh; Second
Lieutenant,. Company F-Captain, Peter Hart; First Lieutenant, Joseph
E. McLaughlin; Second Lieutenant, James I. Moore. Company G-Captain, Benjamin
F. Howey; First Lieutenant, William C. Larzelier; Second Lieutenant, James F.
Green. Company H —Captain, David M. Trimmer; First Lieutenant, John N. Givins;
Second Lieutenant, Henry Hance. Company I-Captain, Calvin T. James; First Lieutenant, Richard T. Drake; Second Lieutenant, James Prall. Company K —Captain,
Nelson Bennett; First Lieutenant, Edson J. Rood.




THE THIRTY-FIRST REGIMENT.                583
still standing, and at no great distance from the Plain. These
being speedily put in repair, soldier fashion, made comfortable
quarters. This camp soon became quite noted on account of its
peculiar appearance, its situation and perhaps its history. It was
built and occupied by North Carolina troops, of which there were
two regiments. The troublesome rebel batteries on the Potomac
at this point were operated by these troops, who supposed their
camp to be secure from the fire of the Federal gunboats. A few
shells, however, dispelled that illusion, and a hasty departure followed.
There were no events of importance connected with the service
of the.Thirty-first at this time. The regiment occupied an isolated
position, and as rebel scouts were known to be prowling in the
vicinity, the necessary precautions were taken to guard against surprise.  The principal work was picket and guard duty and the
unloading of army supplies at the landing, about a mile distant.
Unfortunately, no time was spent in drilling and preparing for the
field, which gave color to the camp rumor that the regiment would
be kept on fatigue duty during its entire term of service. This
was an injury to the regiment and to its commandant, Colonel
A. P. Berthoud, who, having little military taste, exhibited little
military spirit. After the disastrous battle of Fredericksburg, the
whole army seemed to fall back as if for permanent winter quarters,
and the Thirty-first found itself occupying a detached position no
longer. It was now in the Third Brigade-General G. R. Paul'sGeneral Wadsworth's Division and Reynolds' Corps. On the 20th
of January, it moved with the army in the famous "Mud Campaign" under command of Colonel Berthoud, and returned to camp
on the 23d, the men utterly exhausted and almost starving.  Later
in the season the regiment was considerably thinned by sickness,
but fortunately the deaths were comparatively few. The hospital
accommodations were unusually good, and the management of the
medical department could not be excelled. The Surgeon was Doctor Robert B. Browne, who became Brigade-Surgeon and afterwards was prominently connected with the service with the Twentyfifth Corps.




584             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
About this time Lieutenant-Colonel Holt resigned, and Major R.
R. Honeyman was appointed to  fill the vacancy, being highly
recommended by prominent officers of the brigade.  A few weeks
later the command of the brigade devolved upon Colonel Berthoud,
owing to the expiration of General Paul's term  of appointment.
This placed  Lieutenant-Colonel Honeyman  in command of the
regiment, which he happily retained until its service in the field
was about concluded-Colonel Berthoud retiring sick on the reinstatement of General Paul.   The officers of the brigade having
unanimously petitioned for the re-appointment of their beloved
commander, had scarcely welcomed his arrival when preparations
were ordered for the coming march and battle of Chancellorsville.
On the 29th of April, 1863, the Thirty-first moved forward to the
Rappahannock, at a point some three miles below Fredericksburg,
where the division was assembled, and crossing the pontoons with
the brigade, bivouacked for the night under shelter of the south
bank.  On the morrow, late in  the afternoon, the brigade was
advanced to meet an approaching advance of rebel infantry, the
Thirty-first forming the second line of battle, in support of the
Twenty-ninth New Jersey.  The line had scarcely been formed on
the summit of the declivity forming  the river 1lank, when the
enemy quickly withdrew  and opened a remorseless fire from  his
batteries, which no, troops were able to standc.  The Twenty-ninth,
being most exposed, fell back, forming in the rear of the Thirtyfirst, all the troops protecting themselves by  lying  fiat on  the
ground.   There were no casualties in the Thirty-first, owing  to
its fortunate position, but the firing was terrific.^
About dusk the firing  slackened and  soon ceased, when  the
Thirty-first was ordered to advance, under cover of the darkness,
2 A note from an officer of the regiment says of the vigor of the rebel fire: " The
air seemed filled with missiles flying to and fro. Some of them seemed to move
leisurely with a noise like that of a huge bird flapping wearily its ponderous wings.
Others hissed and screamed like some enormous locomotive and train shot from some
gun having the caliber of a railroad tunnel. Shells exploded at our feet, throwing up
the ground as if there was an eruption from beneath. Shells exploded about our
heads and sent their fragments skimming over us. Shells exploded in the river, as if
for the admiration of the enthusiastic audience, which, strangely enough, did not
applaud. Shells here, shells there, shells everywhere."




THE THIRTY-FIRST REGIMENT.                           585
and complete and occupy some rifle-pits in close proximity to the
rebel line, which was at once done-the men working in profound
silence most of the night in strengthening their position. Company
B, under command of its worthy officer, Lieutenant Felver, was
detailed to prepare ground for a battery which was now placed on
the left of the regiment, and which flanked the position. Day
broke on the field, but passed, quite unexpectedly, as peacefully as
if the foe had quit the scene. On the 2d, however, the batteries of
the enemy opened with  a terrible fire, compelling  the division
speedily to retire. The Thirty-first, however, maintained it position in comparative safety, relying upon its defences, which were so
well constructed as to be highly complimented by Generals Wadsworth and Paul.  The position of the regiment at this time was
one of peculiar danger. The operations of the army at this point
being no longer necessary-since the right had become endangered
-the  corps was ordered to reinforce the  right which  rested  at
Chancellorsville, several miles above. As it was necessary to execute this movement without betraying it to the enemy, a few troops
were left apparently to engage him-the last of which to recross
the pontoons was the Thirty-first.3 The regiment had been ordered
to evacuate its position and the order countermanded on the point
3 " The situation of the regiment at this time was most critical. The correspondent
of the New York Times reported the Thirty-first as' cut to pieces.' When he left that
portion of the field, the regiment was nearly surrounded, and the bridge in its rear
partially destroyed. The whole corps was in motion, the Thirty-first alone excepted,
it being left to hold the enemy at that point as long as possible, and to deceive him
as to numbers. The men behaved admirably, marching firmly down to the bridge, where
they were held until the battery had crossed, expecting every moment to be charged
upon. After crossing, we were obliged to scatter, as the enemy had accurate range of
us. The Colonel had previously designated a rallying point for the regiment which
proved to be beyond his observation, and every man came to time in that race. We
saved the battery, but came near losing the regiment."-IVotes of al officer.
Colonel Hbneyman, writing of this affair, incidentally says: "General Wadsworth
was the bravest and most daring man I ever saw. He sent me orders to draw off my
command and save the battery at all hazards. His messengers not making sufficient
haste, and seeing the danger we were in, he came over himself, riding like the wind
without any of his staff, amid a storm of shells and other missiles. Just as I was
about saluting him, a shell exploded about three feet from and directly over his head,
stunning us both. I supposed at the moment that he was killed, but to my astonishment he raised his head, and never noticed by a remark or expression of countenance
the startling occurrence. He afterwards remarked to me that it was a pretty hot place,
or something to that effect."
74




586           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
of its execution. The enemy was now shelling the bridge to cut
off its retreat, and capture seemed inevitable. At this juncture,
as a rebel column was preparing to charge on the left and capture
the battery, together with the regiment, General Wadsworth, unaccompanied by his staff, rode up in the thickest of the fire, to
retrieve, perhaps, his own error in countermanding the order for
retreat.  Ordering Colonel Honeyman to hold two companies at
the pontoons until the battery could recross to prevent confusion,
the field was soon cleared-the battery being brought over under
the General's own superintendance. Being still exposed to a merciless fire of shells and other missiles, the regiment was ordered to
scatter and re-form under shelter of a neighboring ravine, which
was quickly done. Up to this time but one man had been wounded,
although the loss to the battery, whilst in the line, was considerable.
The regiment was now  ordered to make all haste in pushing
forward to rejoin the brigade, and the whole corps being on a
forced march, and the day excessively hot, the suffering of the men
was extreme. After rejoining the brigade, the march was continued, proving the most trying one the corps had ever experienced.
At length, late in the night, United States Ford was reached, when
a brief rest closed the day. Early on the morrow, the 3d, the
Ford was crossed, and skirting the line of battle from the Chancellorsville House to the extreme right, the regiment was formed in
line of battle at sunrise, and so continued during the day and
night, awaiting the attack, which at times reached this portion of
the line. The next day, being moved still further to the right,
rifle-pits were thrown up and four companies (A, B, F and G) sent
out on the skirmish line of the brigade; but neither of these companies nor the regiment became actively engaged. On the 5th, the
army being ordered to withdraw-after marching all night through
the " Wilderness" in various directions, owing to varying orders,
the darkness and difficulty in finding the road, &c. -the regiment
left the brigade to cross at United States Ford, which was safely
effected on the morning of the 6th. The brigade was not rejoined,
nor indeed reformed, until a day later, when it went into camp near




THE THIRTY-FIRST REGIMENT.                           587
the Fitz-Hugh House, not far from the Rappahannock, two or three
miles below Fredericksburg.
The mettle of the regiment was thoroughly tested in this ordeal,
and the Thirty-first was proven to be-like the rest of the New
Jersey troops-equal to any in the field.  The severe  marching
and exposure had its effect in filling the hospital, and deaths were
for some time quite numerous.
No events of importance occurred from this time forth. The
term of service soon expiring, the labors of the Thirty-first, as an
organization, came to an end. Many officers and men, however,
again entered the service, serving with marked distinction. The
total loss of the regiment in men, during its term of service, was
4 The following is Lieutenant-Colonel Honeyman's report of the operations of the
regiment:
" On Wednesday, April 29th, crossed the Rappahannock at a point about three miles
below Fredericksburg, bivouacking at night on the bank. Thursday, the 30th, I mustered my command in compliance with orders; towards evening formed line of battle
to support the Twenty-ninth New Jersey, which was formed in advance, and moved
forward to the brow of the bluff which had sheltered the brigade from the observations of the enemy. The enemy's batteries now opening, continued firing until dark,
but although the firing was close, the bank in front afforded my command effectual
protection. After the firing had ceased, in compliance with orders I advanced my
command under cover of the night to occupy the rifle-pits which were being constructed in front. Owing to the imperfect character of these works, I worked all night
upon them, and furnished also a detail of nearly two companies to prepare the ground
for a battery on my left. Friday, May 1st, occupied my position undisturbed. Saturday, 2d, firing commenced at eight o'clock a. m., from the enemy's batteries. Sergeant Aaron W. Davis, Company G, was wounded-struck above the car with a piece
of shell. The firing was very heavy and was directed principally at the batteries. My
position was held without difficulty until ordered to be evacuated. After all the
troops had fallen back, the enemy's fire slackened, enabling me to bring over the river
our batteries and to effect a crossing without loss. Rejoining the brigade near Falmouth Station, with scarcely any time for rest, we were pushed forward rapidly up the
river throughout the remainder of this excessively warm day. The endurance of both
officers and men was wonderful, although a number gave out. Late in the evening,
encamped near United States Ford, crossing the river at this point at three o'clock a.
m., Sunday, the 3d instant. At sunrise, having arrived at our position on the field, near
the extreme right, I formed line of battle in support of an advanced line and remained
here during the day and night, awaiting an attack-the firing part of the time being
near and very heavy. Monday, p. m., 4th instant, moved half a mile further to the
right, sent out four companies on picket under command of Captain B. F. Howey of
Company G, and threw up rifle-pits. The enemy being reported near and in force, a
general alarm was created soon after dark bythe firing of one of the pickets, followed
by the firing of the regiment next on my right. The firing immediately becoming
general, part of the regiment which was formed in rear of my command as support,
also fired. That none were killed seemed almost miraculous, the clothing of some
being riddled with balls. Tuesday, the 5th, p. m., the enemy reported advancing upon




588              NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
about fifty. Its character was equal to that of any that ever left
the State.   Every officer and man  was a volunteer; not one
drafted man was in the ranks. The field officers each recruited a
company as Captains, and were elected by the line officers to their
positions.   The staff  was appointed  by  the Colonel, who was
particularly fortunate in the selection of his Surgeon and Quartermaster.  Quartermaster Israel Wells was esteemed by his department as the best Quartermaster in the brigade, and his services
were highly prized by his commandant, Lieutenant-Colonel Honeyman.  Adjutant S. A. Bristol was also highly esteemed in the
regiment, which, while not enjoying  enlarged  opportunities of
usefulness, yet fairly earned the approbation of the people.
us. It commenced raining, and the night was very dark. About ten o'clock, p. m.,
took up the line of march towards United States Ford, which was nearly reached
when the order was countermanded, owing to the rise of the river. Marched back to
former position, which was scarcely regained when ordered to march back again to
the ford, which I crossed at daybreak, Wednesday the 6th, rejoining the brigade on
Thursday, the 7th-the men of my command being nearly exhausted from fatigue,
loss of sleep," &c.




CHAPTER XXVI.
THE  THIRTY-SECOND  REGIMENT-(Second  Cavalry).
The Thirty-second Regiment, or Second Cavalry, was recruited
in the summer of 1863, and left Trenton for Washington on the
5th of October of that year, reaching the Capital on the following
day with eight hundred and ninety men. It immediately crossed
into Virginia, going into camp at a point about midway between
Alexandria and the Long Bridge, where, the horses and equipments soon after arriving, it was drilled for over a month in horsemanship and the use of the saber. On the 17th, the daily routine
was broken for the first time by Captain Gallagher being despatched with Company A, armed only with the saber, to escort one
thousand horses to the cavalry camp of the Army of the Potomac
at Fairfax Court-House. Captain Gallagher reached his destination
without difficulty, but on his return was attacked by Mosby, and
the company routed, the Captain, with two Sergeants and one man
being taken prisoners, and one Corporal wounded and left on the
field. This affair was followed on the night of the 18th by a movement of two companies (C and B) under Major P. Jones Yorke,
with no other arms than the saber, with instructions to scout the
country from their camp to Annandale by way of Bailey's Cross
Roads, Major P. V. Vroom, with companies L and G, being dispatched to the same point by another route. Fortunately, both
detachments, no enemy appearing, accomplished successfully the
objects of their moverfient, and returned to camp in safety, scarcely
persuaded, however, of the propriety of seeking collisions with the
foe without adequate arms. The regiment now remained idle
until the 9th of November, when, having been ordered to the
Southwest, it started by rail for Cincinnati, which place it reached




990               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
on the 15th, proceeding thence by steamer to Eastport, Mississippi.'
Here, disembarking, the regiment went into camp, and soon became
actively employed, scouting parties being sent out almost daily, and
1 The following extracts from the diary of an officer of the regiment give the incidents
of this trip:
" On Monday, the 9th day of November, 1863, the command broke camp and started
for the Southwest. At ten o'clock, p. m., the entire regiment, men, horses, equipments, &c., were loaded on the cars and under way on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; cold and snowing. On the afternoon of the 12th, reached the Ohio river opposite Bellair, disembarked the regiment and ferried it over to that place. Here the
horses received the first food or water since leaving Washington.
" On the night of the 13th, the command was again on the cars and off for Cincinnati, which point they reached at six o'clock on the 15th, when they were marched to
the Union Refreshment Saloon for breakfast, and from there to the levee at the foot of
Broadway, where they were embarked on board the steamers Crickett, Charmer, Nellie
Moon, Emperor, Silver Cloud, Melnotte, Princess and headquarters steamer Monsoon.
The sutler's stores were, with the Quartermaster's property, embarked on the steamer
Emperor by order of Colonel Karge, although the former was received by the Captain
of the steamer under protest as contrary to orders from the War Department. At this
point the regiment lost some thirty men by desertion.
" At ten o'clock, a. m., of the 17th, the entire fleet was under way down the Ohio;
and at six o'clock, p. m., was one hundred miles below Cincinnati. At ten o'clock,
p. m., came to an anchor on account of a thick fog.
" November 18th. Under way at five o'clock, a. m., and at nine o'clock, a. m. hauled
in at Louisville, Kentucky. At eleven o'clock, a. m., started through the United
States and Kentucky Canal, which is over two miles long, with a fall of fifty feet. At
eleven o'clock, p. m., anchored again on account of the fog.
" Thursday, 19th. Under way at daylight, and at two o'clock, p. m., the entire fleet
reached Cannelton where the steamers coaled, and Spencer carbines were issued to the
regiment. Ten o'clock, p. m. Three steamers, having received their coal, got under
way.
"20th. The home guards came into Cannelton to-day to be paid off; they dress and
look like rebel cavalrymen. At four o'clock, p. m., steamer Monsoon under way,
leaving the steamer Charmer (Major Vroom commanding) and three others to follow
at nine o'clock, p. m. Anchored off French Island Shute for the night.
"21st. Under way at daylight; at six o'clock, p. m., hauled in at Shawneetown to
coal.
"22d. Unloaded our horses; at four o'clock, p. m., re-embarked the horses.
"23d. Two steamers, with a part of the Nineteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry reached
here to-day.
"24th. Part of the fleet got under way to-day.
"25th. At four o'clock, a m., the remainder of the steamers got under way; at one
o'clock, p. m., passed the Nellie Moon-one of the fleet-with Captain Van Renssaleer's
squadron on board, sunk on a sand bar.
" 26th. Reached Paducah, Kentucky, at seven o'clock, p. m., when Major Yorke was
ordered to report the arrival of the regiment to the commander of the post.
"27th. At ten o'clock, a. m., got under way up the Tennessee river, with two gunboats as an escort; at twelve o'clock, m., fired two guns at a party of the enemy on
shore. Indications of the enemy being in force, the column was shortened by locking
the steamers in pairs.
" 28th. Passed Pittsburg Landing at forty-five minutes past two o'clock, p. m., and
reached Eastport, Mississippi, at half-past seven o'clock, p. m."




THE THIRTY-SECOND REGIMENT-(SECOND CAVALRY).  591
occasionally coming into conflict with the enemy, who held the
country about Iuka. The first skirmish of importance took place
on the 4th of December, when two companies of the regiment
encountering a force of the enemy, attacked and drove them
through Iuka, losing one man killed, the first lost in action. On
the 6th (of December), a change in the plan of operations in that
quarter having been determined upon, the regiment was transferred
by steamer to Columbus, Kentucky, whence, on the 15th, it proceeded to Union City, Tennessee, where it was placed in the cavalry brigade commanded by Colonel Waring, of the Fourth Missouri Cavalry. From this place it moved on the 23d to Paris, Tennessee, on the line of the Memphis and Ohio Railroad. Here it
was employed in garrison duty and scouting until the 16th of January, 1864, when it returned to Union City, reaching that point on
the 20th. This expedition, in the depth of winter, caused great
suffering in the regiment, over eighty men being rendered unfit for
duty, and discharged on account of frozen limbs, and one hundred
horses being lost from exhaustion. Two days after reaching Union
City, the regiment was again on the march, being ordered to join
General Smith, near Memphis, Tennessee, over one hundred and
fifty miles distant. This march was, if anything, even more severe
than any which had preceded it, the route being marked by
dense swamps and unbridged rivers, which it was almost impossible to cross; but pushing forward with all possible dispatch, these
and all other obstacles were finally surmounted, and on the 8th of
February, the command reached Coliersville, some twenty-five
miles from Memphis. From this point, the sick having been sent
to the rear, the regiment (on the 11th) moved out as part of an
expedition into central Mississippi, the object being to make a
junction with General Sherman, who was to advance from Vicksburg, Mississippi, to a point on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, and
thence move against Mobile.  The command moved forward
rapidly without encountering the enemy in any force, meeting,
however, and dispersing small gangs of guerillas, until the 19th,
when the Second Jersey, having the advance, came into collision
with and routed a force of hostile cavalry near Aberdeen, Missis



592           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
sippi, the same evening occupying Prairie Station and destroying
an immense quantity of corn, together with cotton and other
property belonging to the Confederate Government. On the 20th,
the regiment, still advancing, skirmished for some hours with
Forrest's cavalry, reaching the vicinity of West Point-about one
hundred miles north of Meridian, where Sherman's co-operating
column had already arrived-about six o'clock p. m. Here the
cavalry halted and bivouacked, but promptly at day-break on the
21st opened on the enemy, now gathered in large force. General
Smith, however, feeling himself unable to cope with the force in
his front, soon determined to retire by way of Okolona, which was
done, his movements being hastened by a report that the rebels in
strong numbers were crossing at Columbus on his flank.  On the
morning of the 22d, while passing Okolona, the enemy assailed
the column with great violence, speedily routing the brigade first
assailed, a second which was sent to its assistance meeting the same
fate, and losing all its artillery. The First brigade, to which the
Second Jersey was attached, was then thrown into line across the
road, the Jerseymen holding the center. Reserving their fire until
the enemy approached to within fifty yards, the men suddenly
opened with their Spencers, delivering a terrific volley right in the
faces of the assailants, who, staggered and bleeding, at once fell
back in confusion.  They had approached, flushed with victory
over two brigades, one of which was in part formed of regulars,
and evidently did not expect much resistance; but the Jerseymen
very speedily convinced them of their mistake. The enemy having retired, orders were now given by General Grierson directing
the Second Jersey to act as rear-guard of the column, which resumed its march, reaching the vicinity of Memphis a few days after,
the Second having skirmished with the enemy, more or less, briskly
for a considerable distance on the line of retreat.  In the action at
Okolona, Lieutenant James E. Montgomery, of Company C, was
badly wounded and taken prisoner, while Captain Pannowitz, of
Company  L, Lieutenant Meeker, of Company G, Lieutenant
Swartz, of Company A, and eleven men were wounded, some
severely, but none fatally. The loss of the enemy in men and




THE THIRTY-SECOND REGIMENT-(SECOND CAVALRY).  593
horses, under the severe fire of the Jerseymen, was very considerable, while the damage inflicted by the expedition was irreparable,
both in the destruction of property and the interruption of important communications.
The Second Jersey was not again engaged until the 5th of April,
when it again met a force of the enemy, defeating them handsomely,
with a loss of four killed and five wounded.  The day after,
Captain Gallagher rejoined the regiment, having succeeded in
making his escape from Libby Prison. On the 10th, Major Yorke,
with a force of three hundred men of the regiment, was sent
against the enemy in the vicinity of Raleigh, some distance north
of Memphis, and coming up with the hostile force bravely charged
into their midst, driving them into their brigade camp, after inflicting severe loss in killed and prisoners.  This officer, who had
served with distinguished credit in the First Cavalry, never lost an
opportunity to strike the enemy, and seldom  failed to deliver
crushing blows, no matter how great the odds against him.
While these operations had been in progress, the rebel General
Forrest had been committing depredations and outrages of every
description, almost without check, in South-western Kentucky and
West Tennessee-among other exploits, capturing and massacreing
the garrison of Fort Pillow, in the latter State.  Baffling all
attempts at capture, he had finally, after this last atrocious deed,
retreated rapidly into Mississippi, where, early in May, he concentrated about Guntown, on the Mobile Railroad.  It being determined to prevent, if possible, any further operations by his troops
north of the Mississippi line, or their transfer to Johnston in
Northern Georgia, on the 30th of April a force of infantry and
cavalry, under command of General Sturgis, was sent out from
Memphis, with instructions to push on until the marauder was
found and beaten. Breaking camp on the day named, the Second
Jersey, late on the night of May 2d reached Somerville, whence a
demi-brigade, under Colonel Iarge, composed of this regiment,
under Major Yorke, the Tenth Missouri, and a section of artillery,
was ordered forward to attack the enemy.  Moving rapidly on,
the column found the enemy in possession of earthworks on the
75




594              NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
heights of Bolivar.   Captain  Gallagher's  squadron  was at once
impelled against the left of the enemy's line, but a deep ravine
arresting the progress of the troopers, the charge was not successful. Meanwhile, the rest of the command, opening fire, kept up a
vigorous assault, and after a combat of some two hours' duration,
the Second  Jersey, boldly  charging  the  works, drove out the
enemy, who retreated in great confusion through the town.  Night
coming on, the pursuit was not continued, the regiment garrisoning
the town. The loss of the regiment in the action was two killed
and six wounded.  The rebels were much  demoralized by their
defeat, and rapidly retreated.   The expeditionary force thereupon
moved, by way of Ripley and Holly Springs, to White's Station,
below Memphis, where, on the 10th, the First Brigade went into
camp.2   On the 1st of June, Major Yorkc was appointed Acting
Assistant Inspector-General of the cavalry of the Sixteenth Corps,
performing creditably all the duties of the position. About this
time, the  effectual dispersion of Forrest's command  being  still
2 The following is Major Yorke's report to the Adjutant-General of New Jersey:'; I have the honor to report that on the 30th of April a force under the command of
Brigadier-General Sturgis, left Memphis in pursuit of General Forrest. On the d2 of
May we reached Somerville, Tennessee, and halted. It being ascertained that a force
of the enemy held the town of Bolivar, on the Hatchie river, a distance of twentythree miles from Somerville, Colonel Karge, commanding the First Cavalry Brigade,
was sent forward with a force consisting of two hundred of the Tenth Missouri Cavalry,
four hundred of the Second New Jersey Cavalry, and a section of guns belonging to
the Tenth Missouri Cavalry. Starting at half-past one o'clock, we made a forced and
very rapid march. We found the enemy eight hundred strong, under command of
General Forrest, in position behind strong entrenchments and fortifications about one
mile from Bolivar. After a severe engagement of two hours duration, we routed the
enemy and drove them from their entrenchments and through the town, and but for
he lateness of the hour (it being after eight o'clock, p. m.,) and our utter ignorance
of the country through which the enemy had retreated, would have captured or destroyed the entire force. The loss of our regiment in this action was two men killed
and five wounded, and twenty horses killed and wounded. The names of the killed
are Orderly Sergeant E. E. Cooper, Company F, and private John Switzer, Company
H. The wounded are Francis Malone, Company A; Oscar Rudolph, Company A;
Michael MeSerly, Company F; Martin Perman, Company F; and John Egan, Company HI
"The regiment behaved nobly, and especially I would mention Company E, under
command of Lieutenant Louis Rainear, who opened and took the brunt of the action.
I am happy to say that the Second New Jersey enjoys the best reputation and esteem,
not only of the commanding General, but all the troops in this department.
" I have the honor to be, General,
" Very respectfully your obedient servant,
"P. JONES YORKE, Major Commanding Second New Jersey."




THE THIRTY-SECOND REGIMENT-(SECOND CAVALRY).  595
urgently desired, another expedition was organized to go in pursuit
of him-the command being once more entrusted to General
Sturgis, notwithstanding the evidences of his incapacity.  The
force engaged in this expedition numbered about nine thousand
infantry, including most of General A. J. Smith's Corps, and three
thousand cavalry, the latter being under command of General
Grierson-Colonel Waring commanding the First Brigade.  In the
movement, the cavalry was kept in the advance, and on the morning of the 10th of June came up with and engaged the cavalry of
the enemy near Guntown, a small railroad station on the Mobile
and Ohio Railroad.  The rebels fell back until they gained the
protection of their main body, which was now found to be posted
in force and ready for battle.  "Our infantry was now five or six
miles behind the cavalry. General Sturgis, on learning the disposition of the enemy, ordered it up on the double-quick, and directed
the cavalry to engage him until it should arrive. The enemy,
under Forrest, was about equal in number to our forces, and was
strongly posted on the crest of a semi-circular hill or ridge, in front
of which ran a small creek, which had but one bridge, and was
otherwise impassable, except in a very few places by footmen.
The day was very warm, and when the infantry regiments came up
they were exhausted and disordered, having double-quicked the
whole distance from the point at which they received the order to
march forward.  By another great blunder, close up with them
came rushing the train, of more than two hundred wagons, and it
was hurried over the bridge and parked in a field within easy range
and sight of the enemy's batteries.  If there was ever one time,
more than another, when the attacking force should have been well
organized and disposed with particularly careful skill, it should have
been here, where the enemy had so great advantages in position;
but as fast as our infantry came up, tired and disordered as it was,
it was hurried into the fight, already opened by the cavalry, and
soon and completely beaten. The division and brigade and subordinate officers made strenuous efforts to check the tide of defeat,
but without avail, and the whole army was soon in full retreat, the
greater part of it in utter confusion, The rebels, rejoicing in their




596            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
easy victory, pursued with unrelenting vigor, capturing the entire
train at the first step, and cutting off our weary infantry men in
great numbers.  It was some time before even an attempt at order
in the retreat was made, and then the second brigade was ordered
to act as rear-guard and cover the retreat, it being the only organized force in the whole command.  The First Brigade (of the cavalry division) had been divided, a large part of it being taken for
an escort to the General commanding, and other detachments being
broken off for different purposes.  It was not attempted to keep
the infantry in order, and it hurried along as best it could, a fleeing
mob.  So, back towards Memphis rushed the ruined army, its rear
covered by Winslow's brigade of cavalry during the terrible night's
march of June 10th, and through the next day until Ripley was
reached.  Here the enemy pressed so hard that the running skirmish swelled into a sharp engagement, which, as it gave our troops
some advantage, checked the ardor of the enemy's pursuit, and it
was thereafter not so harassing, though continued until within a
few miles of Memphis.  General Sturgis made no positive attempt
to re-organize or control the troops after the retreat had begun,
and he should be directly and alone responsible for this great disaster.  Our losses were about four thousand men killed, wounded
and captured; the entire wagon-train of two hundred and fifty
wagons, captured; the entire ambulance train, except a few ambulances belonging to the cavalry division, captured; and every gun
except two."'
The conduct of the Second New Jersey in this unfortunate affair
was creditable in the highest degree.  Both in the main action and
in the retreat, it behaved with the greatest gallantry, the men fairly
gnashing their teeth with rage at the mismanagement of the movement and the consequent impossibility of chastising the enemy as
he deserved.  Had General Sturgis been other than the imbecile
he was, he might easily have redeemed himself from  disgrace, by
merely permitting the Second Jersey to gratify its longing for a
fresh encounter with the foe.  As it was, the regiment contributed
3 Ingersoll's " Iowa and the Rebellion."




THE THIRTY-SECOND REGIMENT-(SECOND CAYALRY).  597
as largely as any other to preserve the little army from complete
annihilation, and in the accounts of the time, its efficiency and
intrepidity received just recognition. It aided in covering the
retreat, and at one time two companies held an important position
for three hours against a greatly superior force. The regiment
suffered heavily, losing eight officers and one hundred and thirty
men, out of seventeen officers and three hundred and fifty men
taken into action.  The Color-Sergeant of the command was shot
through the head, but the colors were saved by the gallantry of
the men, who, amid the prevailing panic, remained perfectly cool.
On the 25th, the Second Jersey was deployed in squadrons along
the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, between Moscow
and La Grange, for the purpose of keeping open the communications of General A. J. Smith's command.  Ten days later, with
the other regiments of the brigade under Colonel Karge, it was
transferred to a new field of operations, proceeding by steamer to
Vicksburg. losing one man on the passage from the fire of guerillas.
Reaching Vicksburg, July 6th, the regiment, after marching sixteen
miles inland, reported to General Slocum, and was assigned to the
command of General Elliott, of the Marine Brigade.  On the 11th,
with other troops it moved in search of the enemy, encountering
him  on the 15th at Port Gibson, Mississippi, and losing in the
combat which ensued, through alleged mismanagement, two men
killed, and Lieutenant Braun, twenty-six men and two guidons
captured.  Two days after, at an early hour in the morning, the
enemy, who was in some force, made a sharp assault upon our
picket line, pressing it with equal vigor along the entire front, but
our troops, promptly meeting the assailants, after an hour's fighting, drove them in confusion. In this contest, Lieutenant A. D.
Hamilton, of Company C, while in command of a picket, behaved
with conspicuous gallantry, his men also displaying the finest
soldierly qualities.  The accuracy of their aim  was throughout
especially remarkable, every rebel found dead in their front after
the action proving to be shot between the eyes.  The object of the
movement in this direction being now accomplished, the command
was ordered to return to Memphis, which it did, reaching that point




598           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
on the 24th. Meanwhile, General A. J. Smith, who had advanced
with an infantry column to Tupelo, Mississippi, and there encountered and worsted the forces of Forrest, had also returned to Memphis, whence, on the 7th of August, he once more advanced with
ten thousand men by Holly Springs to the Tallahatchie, but found
no enemy to fight, save a very small body of cavalry-Forrest's
main body having been drawn off for service elsewhere.  The
Second Jersey took part in this expedition, with two hundred and
ninety men, but on the 31st (of August) returned to Memphis,
with the rest of the expeditionary corps, without having been
seriously engaged. And now the regiment, for a period of two
months, remained comparatively idle, recruiting its strength and
adding to its numbers, in preparation for the fall campaign. Early
in September, Major Yorke was mustered in as Lieutenant Colonel
and took command of the regiment, Colonel Karge having command of the brigade-Phillip Van Renssalaer becoming Major
and reporting for duty on November 11th. By this time the regiment had increased to fourteen hundred men, and was in splendid
condition for effective campaigning.
On the 28th of November, Colonel Yorke, under special orders
from General Washburne, started on an expedition into Arkansas,
proceeding by steamer, with two hundred and fifty of the Second
New  Jersey, one hundred and fifty of the Fourth Iowa and a
detachment of Iowa infantry, to Osceola, in that State. Disembarking at that point on the 29th, the command crossed a swamp
some eighteen miles in length, the mud and water reaching to the
saddle-girths of the horses, to Big Lake, where, after some brisk
firing, they succeeded in capturing a rebel train consisting of some
eighteen wagons, loaded with over nine hundred stand of arms, of
approved pattern, together with eleven prisoners and two commissioned officers. Thence, on December 1st, the column proceeded
to Randolph, and marching south, scouting the country, encamped
that night at Cuba, where it was attacked by guerillas, who were,
however, driven off with ease-Memphis being safely reached on
the following day. This expedition was throughout managed with
great tact, and was in every respect entirely successful.




THE THIRTY-SECOND REGIMTENT-(SECOND CAVALRY).  599
On the morning of December 19th, a formidable movement
against the enemy having been decided upon, the First Brigade,
Colonel Karge commanding, was sent forward to make a demonstration towards Bolivar, some sixty miles from  Memphis, with
instructions to move thence in a South-easterly direction and connect with the main column near Ripley, Mississippi.  Owing to
heavy rains, which had prevailed for some days and swollen the
streams, it was found impossible to cross Wolf river, and the
intended junction could not therefore be effected. Accordingly,
the command returned to Memphis, whence, on the 21st, it again
moved out with the main column, composed in all of three brigades, with a total of three thousand three hundred men, all under
command of General Grierson.4  Taking the most direct route to
Ripley, moving through Lamar and Salem, the column on the 24th
reached the point in question-a detachment of one hundred men
of the Tenth Missouri having meanwhile struck the railway at
Grand Junction and effectually destroyed the telegraph lines, thus
breaking the communications of the enemy. Upon reaching Ripley, a detachment of the Second New Jersey (three companies)
under Major Van Renssalaer, was ordered to proceed to Boonville
on the Ohio and Mobile railroad, destroy the track and whatever
Confederate property might be within reach, and rejoin the command at Ellistown, twenty miles south of Ripley. This service
was most successfully performed, the detachment tearing up a mile
of the railroad and burning two large buildings filled with quartermaster's and commissary stores, together with a "caboose" on the
railway containing arms, ammunition and railroad implements.
Moving thence southward, they destroyed a bridge over " Twenty
Mile Creek," with eight or ten culverts, and on the 26th rejoined the
regiment, having made a distance of one hundred and thirteen miles.
On reaching Tupelo, forty miles south of Ripley, on the evening
4 The First Brigade, under Colonel Karge, was composed of the Second New Jersey,
Fourth Missouri, Seventh Indiana Cavalry and the First Mississippi Mounted Rifles;
the Second Brigade, under Colonel Winston, of the Third and Fourth Iowa and
Eleventh Missouri Cavalry; and the Third Brigade of the Fourth and Eleventh Illinois,
Second Wisconsin, Third United States Colored Cavalry and fifty men of the Pioneer
Corps.




600           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
of the 25th, Colonel Karge was ordered with his whole brigade to
move rapidly on Verona Station, seven miles south-information
having been received that a force of seven hundred dismounted
cavalry belonging to Forrest's command, was stationed at that point,
guarding a large quantity of stores. Reaching the station, the
command at once charged gallantly on the enemy, who, completely
surprised, offered but a feeble resistance, most of them, under cover
of the darkness, escaping into the timber, leaving in our hands
as spoils, eight buildings filled with fixed ammunition, estimated at
three hundred tons, five thousand stands of new carbines, eight
thousand sacks of shelled corn, a large quantity of wheat, and an
immense amount of quartermaster stores, clothing, camp and garrison equipage, together with a train of cars and a large number of
army weapons which had been captured by Forrest from General
Sturgis during his disastrous expedition in June.  All this property
was effectually destroyed, the track being also torn up, after which
the brigade proceeded to rejoin the command, leaving a "fire in
the rear" which illuminated the country for miles around-the continued explosions of ammunition at intervals during the night,
adding much to the magnificence of the scene and to the enjoyment of the dashing riders who moved on swiftly to the performance of further exploits.  Reaching Shannon on the evening of
the 26th, they captured one hundred new army wagons, en route to
Forrest's command, besides a quantity of commissary and other
stores, which, with several government buildings, were promptly
destroyed.  On the morning of the 27th, the entire command moved
out at an early hour, soon encountering the enemy, who gradually
retired, exchanging shots with the advance, until the outskirts of
Okolona were reached.  Here a rebel courier was captured with a
despatch to the commandant of the post, stating that he would be
reinforced by one thousand and three hundred infantry by railway
from Mobile, and a fight being anticipated, the squadrons were at
once formed and ordered to advance.  Moving forward over the
open ground, with flags gaily fluttering in the breeze, the column
entered the town, making another haul of commissary stores and
several thousand pounds of finished leather, all of which were at




THE THIRTY-SECOND REGIMENT-(SECOND CAVALRY).  601
once committed to the flames. While here, the telegraph was
tapped and dispatches intercepted from General Dick Taylor, General Gardner and others, directing the commanding officer at Egypt,
some fifteen miles below, to hold that place at all hazards, and
stating that large reinforcements would as speedily as possible be
sent from Mobile. The reinforcements promised to the Okolona
commandant soon made their appearance, a long train of cars coming into view from the South. When within two miles, however,
of the town, warned by the glare of the burning buildings, the
enemy concluded to retire, which they did, returning with all possible expedition to Egypt Station-whereupon the command at
once resumed its march, and at night went into camp only five
miles from the station, against which, early the next morning, Colonel Yorke was ordered to advance. Selecting forty men from
Captain Gallagher's squadron as an advance-guard, the Colonel
ordered the remainder of the regiment to move forward in columns
of fours-himself accompanying the advance. Passing through a
dense woods, the latter struck the open prairie and encountered the
enemy's skirmish line of infantry.  This was at once charged and
captured. The enemy could now be seen just ahead in possession
of the village and stockade. Captain Gallagher forthwith charged
them with the intention of piercing their center, but at this moment
they opened a murderous fire from their artillery, cavalry and
infantry, which killed Captain Gallagher, Lieutenant Burns and
several men and horses. This caused the advance to hesitate and
then slowly retire, but in the meantime Colonel Yorke had ordered
Captain Mitchell with his squadron to charge the artillery. This
he did gallantly and forced them to retire down the railroad, when,
returning, he advanced on the left flank of the infantry and cavalry.
Ordering another squadron to the assistance of Captain Mitchell,
Colonel Yorke deployed the other force in line of battle in front of
the stockade.  Then at the word, the regiment charged gallantly,
their brave commander leading the attack in person-the whole
column moving right up to the stockade in the face of a murderous
fire, so that they could fire directly into the garrison. The latter
taken at the same time in flank, speedily surrendered, and the day
76




602               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
was ours. The prisoners numbered in all some five hundred and
fifty.  But the victory was a costly one; seventy-four men and over
eighty horses of the Second Jersey were killed and wounded.
Lieutenant Burd was killed while urging  forward his men, and
when only ten paces from the stockade. Colonel Harris, commanding the rebel camp, was captured, as was also General Gholson,
commanding the pogt, the latter being shot in two places. The
gallantry  of the officers  and  men  was never more conspicuous
than in this action. Their charge was made with the battle-flag
presented by the ladies of Salem, New Jersey, in the center, and
none who witnessed the steadiness of their advance will ever forget it.5
5 The following account of this action was published in the New York Sunday
Mlercury:
"In the late extensive raid of the force commanded by General Grierson, the
Second New Jersey Cavalry bore a conspicuous part-conspicuous not only for great
gallantry, but also for most complete and glorious success. It was led by its gallant
commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Yorke, to whom  the regiment was fortunate in
having its command transferred. Ever since Colonel Yorke resumed the command,
the regiment has been most efficient, and has won for itself and him an imperishable
name for steady, unflinching courage and gallantry, as well as the most thorough and
efficient discipline.
" In this late expedition, the regiment particularly distinguished itself. During the
raid it was selected for the accomplishment of a most difficult and dangerous duty;
the capture of a fort and stockade at Egypt Station, on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad.
The regiment, led by its commander, drove the rebels before them, charging gallantly
forward on and up to the very works and the muzzles of the enemy's guns, and there
pouring into the fort a destructive fire with carbines, while a portion of the regiment
dismounted and fought on foot. The fighting was most desperate and sanguinary,
and the loss of life to us, as well as to the enemy, very severe. The garrison nearly,
if not quite, equalled the regiment in numbers, and were protected by strong defensive
works.  Yet, disregarding the strength of the enemy, all the disparity of position
and advantages, thinking of and caring for nothing but its own glorious name and
obedience to the orders of its honored leader, it dashed splendidly on. It was a
glorious sight-the long line of men and horses, the glitter and clash of arms, the
cry of onset, the flying rebels, the pursuing, relentless foe.  All movements were
ordered by the bugle, and it is a remarkable fact that not a single instance of mistake
or disobedience occurred during the whole affair. During the most rapid firing, while
each man was wholly occupied in charging and discharging his piece, comrades falling
around, horses rearing and plunging, amid general uproar and confusion, the bugle
suddenly sounded'cease firing.' At once the order was obeyed, not a piece was
discharged, not a soldier moved in his place until the bugle was again heard sounding
the'charge;' then over shoulder was slung the carbine, out-flashed the glittering
steel, and on like an avalanche rushed the heroic Second.
" The fort was taken, and with it over eight hundred rebels, with a large number of
officers, including one General. The loss of the Second was very heavy. Conspicuous
gallantry was displayed. The officers who were shot fell at the head of their squad



THE THIRTY-SECOND REGIMENT-(SECOND  CAVALRY).   603
After destroying the captured arms and ammunition, the regiment resumed its march, reaching Houston on the 29th, and thence,
on the 31st, moving to Winona Station, on the Mississippi Central
Railroad.   Here the  depot, telegraph, railroad, several bridges,
a number of buildings filled with stores, were destroyed, after which
the command proceeded in a southwesterly direction to Vicksburg,
which place was reached on the 6th of January.  From  this point,
the Second Jersey returned by steamer to Memphis, having lost,
during  the  entire  expedition,  nineteen  men  killed, sixty-nine
wounded, and two missing, with one hundred and fifty-five horses
and  mules killed and disabled.  No expedition  of the war was
more completely successful, and in none did the Second Jersey
exhibit greater gallantry and soldierly endurance than in this dash
through the very heart of Mississippi.6
rons. One gallant officer, Lieutenant Phillips, of Company D, promoted from the
ranks, was shot through the thigh, but refused to retire until an officer was sent by
the Colonel to relieve him. Lieutenant Burd, of Company A, was shot through the
head and instantly killed. Captain Gallagher, of Company H, a fine officer, who had
served in the Army of the Potomac for some time previous to the formation of the
regiment, was killed. Lieutenant Hoffman, late of the First New Jersey Cavalry, was
wounded in the head.
" After the fort was captured and the prisoners were being marched out, General
Grierson and Colonel Karge rode up and congratulated Colonel Yorke on his valiant
achievement. The expedition was in every way a success. Forty miles of the Mobile
and Ohio Railroad, a large number of cars and engines, large quantities of arms and
ammunition, three hundred and fifty wagons that Sturgis lost last spring, and large
quantities of quartermaster and commissary stores, were destroyed."
6 The following is Colonel Yorkc's report of this expedition:
" HEADQUARTERS SECOND NEW JERSEY CAVALRY, )
January 12, 1865.
" GENERAL R. F. STOCKTON, Adjutant- General State of New Jersey:
" GENERAL: In accordance with orders received from brigade headquarters, I marched with seven hundred and forty of my regiment, at half-past seven o'clock, a. m., on
Wednesday, December 21st, and that day reached a point twenty-seven miles from
Memphis.
" On the 22d, marched at half-past six o'clock, a. m., and made fifteen miles; bivouacked.
" December 23d. Marched at seven o'clock, a. m., passed through Lemarr and Salem;
and camped in a swamp at half-past eight o'clock, p. m., on the Ripley road, ten miles
northwest of Ripley. Distance marched, twenty-five miles; roads good.
"December 24th. Marched at six o'clock, a. m., on the Salem and Ripley road;
passed through Ripley at twelve a. m. At this point Major Van Rensselaer, with Companies B, C and K, were ordered to strike the Mobile and Ohio Railroad and destroy it
at Boonville. This they did on the morning of the 25th, at half-past three o'clock,
tearing up a mile of railroad, burning two large houses filled with quartermaster and
commissary stores, and a caboose on the railroad, containing arms, ammunition and




604               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLIOT.
Four days after the return of the expedition to Memphis, the Second Jersey was ordered to embark on steamers and report to General Davidson at Natchez, Mississippi, and on the 19th, the regiment,
railroad implements. Ten miles south of Boonville, they destroyed a bridge across'' Twenty Mile Creek," which was one hundred and fifty feet long; also eight or ten
culverts. The entire distance marched by this portion of my command was one hundred and thirteen miles. They joined the regiment on the 26th. After detaching
Van Rensselaer at Ripley, I moved forward, crossing the Tallahatchie river at Kelly's
Mills, and encamped on the east side at five o'clock, p. m., having marched twenty-five
miles that day.
" December 25th. Marched at six o'clock, a. m., on the Ellistown road; passed that
place at twelve o'clock; then moved on the road to Tupelo. At Oldtown Creek, two
brigades were halted, while we pushed on; passing through Harrisburg, arrived at
Verona Station at half-past nine o'clock, p. m. At this place Lieutenant Charles Mayberry destroyed the depot, nineteen box cars, three fiat cars, two caissons and four
ambulances. Four of these cars were loaded with corn, one car with quartermaster's
books, blanks and stationery, one car of horse shoes and quartermaster stores, one
car containing articles for hospital use, and six cars of commissary goods. Left
Verona at half-past twelve o'clock, p. m., and reached Harrisburg at half-past five
o'clock, a. m., of the 26th instant; distance marched, fifty miles. Marched again at
twelve o'clock, m.; crossed the Tombigbee river and bivouacked at nine o'clock,
p. in., on the Okalona road, having marched twenty miles; roads very bad.
"December 27th. Marched at eight o'clock, a. m., on the Okolona road. The
advance skirmished with the enemy and entered Okalona at twelve o'clock, m., where
I destroyed a large quantity of finished leather, one thousand five hundred horse shoes,
fifty thousand Ely's English caps, for pistols and muskets, and a large amount of tent
cloth. Leaving Okolona at two o'clock, p. m., we marched on the West Point road
and at five o'clock bivouacked six miles from Okolona, having marched fifteen miles;
roads poor. Our bivouack was about four miles from Egypt Station, which we ascertained was held by the enemy.
"December 28th. Clear and pleasant. Marched at seven o'clock, a. m.-my regiment being in advance of the brigade and the brigade in advance of the division. I
formed my extreme advance of thirty good men, with Spencer carbines, under Captain
Vandergrift, assisted by Lieutenant John Burns, Company I.  Captain Gallagher,
Company H, with the rest of Companies H and F, followed as a support, with drawn
sabers. As my orders were to allow nothing to stop me, I gave the same to the officers commanding the advance. At eight o'clock we struck the enemy's skirmish line,
which consisted of infantry, and was deployed about an eighth of a mile from town.
Driving these rapidly before them, they approached the enemy's line of battle, which
consisted of infantry, artillery and cavalry, the infantry holding the center. The firing
then being very heavy, I ordered a charge on the enemy's center, along the main road
that ran through the village. Immediately after their advance, fire was opened from
a stockade on their right, that had hitherto been unperceived by me. The effect of
this fire was very disastrous, for it was here that I lost many men, including the senior
Captain of my regiment, Michael Gallagher, Company H, who fell dead while gallantly
leading his men forward, and Lieutenant John Burns, Company I, who was mortally
wounded. After the death of these officers, the men became disheartened, and turned
in orderly retreat. Seeing this, I led Captain Fernald's squadron, at a gallop, to the
right, and took possession of some fodder stacks and buildings on the enemy's left
center, and which was the key of his position. From behind these, I poured such a
volley into the enemy, who were massed in column of division, that they were forced
to retreat into the stockade. This movement of theirs was hastened by seeing Cap



THE THIRTY-SECOND  REGIMENT-(SECOND  CAVALRY).   605
mustering one thousand and one hundred enlisted men and thirtyfour officers, reached that place, where sixty men, under Lieutenants Johnson and Hoffman, were soon after detached as provost
tain Mitchell's squadron advancing on their left. By this time the rest of the regiment had formed in the field on the left of the road. They advanced in line of battle,
and opened upon the stockade, which was continued with varying success for about
an hour. Company G, under command of Lieutenant Phillips, during this part of the
action was deployed on the extreme left as skirmishers, and did considerable execution. It was here that Lieutenant Phillips was wounded. Seeing the necessity of
pressing upon the left center and following up the advantage gained, I ordered Companies L and E to support Companies A and M, and to advance upon the stockade.
Having dismounted, they with great determination and bravery advanced under a
heavy fire to within ten paces of the fortification, where they found temporary shelter
behind a fence. I then sounded the bugle for a general advance, and the squadrons on
the left of the road, moving forward, charged directly through the village and swept
round in rear of the fortification. At the same moment, the dismounted troops burst
from their cover, and breaking down the door, dashed within the enclosure, which immediately surrendered. The victory was not a bloodless one, for here Lieutenant
Stryker Burd, Company A, while springing forward for the rebel flag, was instantly
killed, with seven of his brave followers. The prisoners taken in the stockade numbered five hundred, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Beck. They were all
armed with Springfield muskets of the latest pattern. In addition to these, fifty men
were captured on the skirmish line. In this action, I lost three officers killed and
two officers and sixty-nine men wounded, and eighty-four horses killed and wounded.
Lieutenant Phillips and thirty-nine men were so seriously wounded that I was forced
to place them in houses and leave them under the care of Assistant-Surgeon Krauter.
After destroying the arms and ammunition, and leaving the dead to be buried by the
Pioneer Corps of the brigade, we took up our line of march towards Piketown, and
passing through Buena Vista, camped at sundown, having made fifteen miles.
"December 29th. Marched at seven o'clock, a. m., and on reaching Houston sent
a force, under Major Van Rensselaer, six miles on the West Point road. On their
return, marched and bivouacked at half-past five o'clock, p. m.; twenty-eight miles.
"December 30th. Marched at seven o'clock, a. m., made twenty miles, and bivouacked near Lodi.
"December 31st. Clear and cold. Marched at seven o'clock, a. m., and reached
Winona Station, on the Central Mississippi Railroad, at two o'clock, p. m., and
destroyed the depot, telegraph, railroad, three small bridges, one box and one flat car,
and ten buildings full of commissary and quartermaster stores. Marched to Middletown and encamped.
"January 1st. Marched at six o'olock, a. m.; good roads; made twenty-six miles.
"January 2d. Marched at half-past six o'clock through Lexington to Benton, forty
miles, and bivouacked at six o'clock, p. m.
" January 3d. Marched thirty-eight miles.
"January 4th. Camped at Chear Creek, nine miles from  icksburg, having marched
twenty miles.
"January 5th.  Rainy.  Passed through Vicksburg, and camped at Four Mile
Bridge; marched thirteen miles.
" On the 6th, I embarked my command on the steamers Pauline, Carroll and Emma,
and one squadron on a barge in tow of the Fairchild. By the 11th, my entire command had returned to this point. My total loss of horses and mules on the expedition was one hundred and fifty-five. In accordance with orders I turned in to Brigade Quartermaster, at Vicksburg, eighty-four unserviceable horses and ten unser



606               NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
guard.  While at this post, one battalion was ordered  on picket
daily by the General commanding.  On  the 21st of February,
Orderly Sergeant Patrick, of Company H, was killed by the accidental discharge of a Spencer carbine, in the hands of a Corporal
of Company E.  He was a brave soldier, and his death was much
regretted in the command. On the first of March, Colonel Karge,
who had been absent on leave, returned and took command of the
regiment, which on the 4th was ordered to report to General
Grierson at New Orleans, and on the 8th, to encamp at Carrolton,
Louisiana. On the 19th Colonel Karge was placed in command of
viceable mules. During the expedition my regiment captured fifty-nine horses and
ninety-six mules.            Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"P. JONES YORKE,
"Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding Regiment."
The following is Colonel Karge's congratulatory order:
"HEADQUARTERS FIRST BRIGADE CAVALRY DIVISION, M. D. M., 
MEMPHIS, Tennessee, January 14, 1865.
[" Circular NYo. 1.]
"The Colonel commanding takes this opportunity to cougratulate the officers and
men of the First Brigade for the brave and gallant manner in which they conducted
themselves during the late expedition into Mississippi, under Brigadier-General B. H.
Grierson.
"In the heart of an enemy's country, and subject to circumstances having a demoralizing tendency, you have displayed a courage and discipline that cannot be surpassed.
"In the face of the enemy, when deploying under a heavy and galling fire, or when
charging his lines and intrenchments, you exhibited such firmness and ready obedience to the orders of your superiors, that victory crowned your efforts, and the foe,
disheartened, appalled, by such determination and bravery, was compelled to surrender.
"But however sweet are the fruits of victory, they were not gained without the
loss of brave and gallant soldiers; and it is with feelings of sorrow, that the Colonel
commanding has to record the loss of three brave officers of the Second New Jersey
Cavalry, and many good and brave men. Captain Gallagher fell shot through the
heart, at the head of his men, while leading them. His Second Lieutenant, John
Burns, fell mortally wounded at the head of his company, in the same charge. Lieutenant Stryker Burd was shot while leading his men against a stockade, in an endeavor
to secure the enemy's colors.
"It is a consolation to know, however, that the officers and men have fallen in a
noble cause, and while bravely performing their duty.
"The Colonel commanding trusts that the renown gained by the brigade during the
expedition, will be an incentive to both officers and men to further efforts in the same
direction. By a continued display of such bravery, endurance and discipline, they
will obtain an immortal name in the history of the war.
"Where (with but two exceptions) all have done well, it would seem invidious to
designate particular persons as meriting special notice. The Colonel commanding,
however, cannot refrain from mentioning, as worthy of special approbation, Lieutenant-Colonel Yorke, commanding Second New Jersey Cavalry, Captain Elliott, Seventh
Indiana, and Captain Hencke, Fourth Missouri Cavalry Volunteers.
" JOSEPH KARGE,
"Colonel Commanding First Brigade."




THE THIRTY-SECOND REGIMENT-(SECOND CAVALRY).  607
the First Brigade, Seventh Division, Cavalry Corps. On the 5th
of April, the Second Jersey was directed to proceed to Mobile,
which it did, part of the men being transferred by way of the
Gulf, and the remainder over Lake Pontchartrain-only a portion
of the command, however, reaching its destination in time to participate in the capture of Forts Blakely and Spanish. While at
Mobile, Major Vroom, of the Second, was appointed Inspector
General of the cavalry, and Major Van Renssalaer, being obliged
to return to New Orleans on account of sickness, was there appointed Assistant Provost Marshal of the city. From this point the
regiment marched to Eufala, Alabama, where it received information of the truce between Sherman and Johnson, and the assassination of President Lincoln.  On the 11th of May, the war having
practically ended, it passed through Montgomery, and on the 21st
reached Columbus, Mississippi-Captain R. D. Mitchell being
appointed (on the following day,) Provost Marshal of the town,
with Captain Fernald and Company M, as provost guard, and Captain Scudder with Company E, being placed in charge of the freedmen's camp. At this time part of Company A, which had been
left in Mobile, rejoined the regiment by rail. On the 28th, General
Grierson and staff left for New Orleans, when Colonel Karge was
placed in command of the District, and Colonel Yorke in command
of the Second Cavalry Brigade. On the 7th of June, the regiment,
under command of Colonel Karge, marched for Vicksburg, Colonel Yorke, with Captain Scudder, Lieutenants Burns, Smith, Hoffman, and Quartermaster Baldwin and Assistant Surgeon Todd,
being ordered to proceed to Mobile, and thence to New Orleans
and up the river with the dismounted men and stores. On the
16th, the regiment was again united in camp, outside of Vicksburg,
on the Big Black River, where, on the 30th, 550 of the one year
men were mustered out and dispatched to Trenton, New Jersey, by
way of New Orleans.  On the 10th of July, Colonel Yorke was
sent with the third battalion to assume command of a sub-division
of Mississippi, with headquarters at Rodney's, where he remained
until the 28th, when he received orders to move his headquarters
to Port Gibson, the remainder of the regiment about the same




608              NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
time being ordered to Natchez.  The regiment, from  this time,
was stationed  as follows:  Colonel Joseph  Karge, commanding
post of Natchez, with six companies; Colonel Yorke, commanding
post of Port Gibson, with  four companies; Colonel N. S. Gilson,
commanding post of Brookhaven, with two companies.
In the latter part of August, Colonel Karge received the brevet
of Brigadier-General, and General Davidson receiving a leave of
absence, he was placed in the command of the Southern District of
Mississippi. IHe at once ordered all the Second New Jersey to
report in Natchez, Mississippi, where they were placed under the
command of Colonel Yorke.  Attempts were now  made to consolidate and retain the regiment in service, but this being frustrated,
the order was received for muster out of service, and proceeding
to Trenton, the command was duly disbanded.  From  first to last
the regiment had exhibited a courage and discipline which justly
ranked it among the best cavalry commands in the service, and its
record, covering a field of peculiar hardship as well as of vital
importance, will shine with honest lustre in  the  annals of the
nation long after the men who fought in its ranks have gone down
to the last sleep.
The following is the roster of the Thirty-second as it entered the
service:
Colonel, Joseph Karge; Lieutenant-Colonel, Marcus L. W. Kitchen; Majors, Fredcrick B. Revere, P. Jones Yorke, and Peter D. Vroom, Jr.; Adjutant, J. Lacey Pierson; Quartermaster, James M. Baldwin; Commissary, Wolfgang Mosse; Surgeon,
Ferdinand V. Dayton; Assistant Surgeons, William W. Bowlby, Lawrence O. Morgan;
Chaplain,.  Company A-Captain, Frank B. Allibone; First Lieutenant,
Charles C. Reiley; Second Lieutenant, Joseph L. Topham. Conpany B —Captain,
Peter G. Van Winkle; First Lieutenant, Theodore Vandergrift; Second Lieutenant,
Samuel Swayze. Company C-Captain, Edward P. Mount; First Lieutenant, Ebenezer Montgomery; Second Lieutenant, Adrian S. Appleget. Company D —Captain,
Charles N. Pelouze; First Lieutenant, Alfred Haines; Second Lieutenant, Albert
H. Crump. Company E-Captain, William V. Scudder; First Lieutenant, Lewis Rainear; Second Lieutenant, Lemuel Fisher.  Company P —Captain, Philip L. Van
Rensselaer; First Lieutenant, Charles H. Dod; Second Lieutenant, L. Henry Smith.
Company G-Captain, Gustave A. von Brausen; First Lieutenant, Clarence Linden;
Second Lieutenant, Carnot B. Meeker. Company H —Captain, Michael Gallagher;
First Lieutenant, John Madigan; Second Lieutenant, Jonathan Goble. Company 1Captain, P. Penn Gaskell; First Lieutenant, Richard D. Mitchell; Second Lieutenant,
Alexander A. Yard. Company  — Captain, Morris H. Stratton; First Lieutenant,
Frederick von Klitzing; Second Lieutenant, Lambert L. Mulford. Company L-Captain, Ehrich von Pannwitz; First Lieutenant, Julius von Rudolphi; Second Lieutenant, Sigismund von Braida. Company 3]f-Captain, Charles F. Fernald; First Lieutenant, John N. Givens; Second Lieutenant, Frank T. Adams.




CHAPTER XXVII.
THE    THIRTY-THIRD    REGIMENT.
THE Thirty-third regiment was raised in the summer of 1863,
under an authorization issued to Colonel Mindil, formerly of the
Twenty-seventh, being the first veteran regiment raised in conformity to the conditions of the new  system, permitting the recruiting of "Veteran Volunteers."   A  call for extra troops being made
about the same time, Colonel Mindil was directed to recruit mainly
in the northern part of the State, and when completed, the regiment represented almost exclusively the counties of Essex, Morris,
Passaic and Hudsn —fully three-fourths of the men being credited
to the quota of Newark.'  Liberal bounties being  offered at this
1 As originally ordered, four companies, A, B, C and F, were to be recruited exclusively from Newark; one company, D, in Paterson; one company, H, in Hoboken;
one company, K, in Jersey City; one company, G, in Morris, Hudson and Essex; one
company, E, in Camden and Essex; one company, I, in Essex, Hudson and Morris.
But few men were obtained from Camden, the regiments under organization at Beverly
and Trenton taking the men from that quarter.
The original roster of the regiment was as follows:
Colonel, George W. Mindil; Lieutenant-Colonel, Enos Fouratt; Major, David A.
Peloubet; Adjutant, William  H. Lambert; Quartermaster, James B. Titman; Surgeon, James Reiley; Assistant-Surgeons, J. Henry Stiger, Charles W. Stickney; Chaplain, John Faull.  Company A-Captain, William G. Boggs; First Lieutenant, George
M. Harris; Second Lieutenant, William. L. Shaw.  Comapany B-Captain, James R.
Sandford; First Lieutenant, James A. Somerville; Second Lieutenant, James Warner.
Company C-Captain, Amzi S. Taylor; First Lientenant, Henry F. Sherwood; Second
Lieutenant, Charles A. Sutton.  Company D-Captain, Charles Courtois; First Lieutenant, James T. Gibson; Second Lieutenant, William A. Miller. Company E-Captain, John Sandford; First Lieutenant, Charles J. Field; Second Lieutenant, Joseph
L. Miller.  Company F-Captain, Thomas O'Connor; First Lieutenant, George L.
Begbie; Second Lieutenant, Alexander Eason.  Company G-Captain, Henry C. BartItt; First Lieutenant, John J. Toffey; Second Lieutenant, William  H. Harrison.
Company H —Captain, Barent Frazer, Jr.; First Lieutenant, Thomas H. Lee; Second
Lieutenant, Joseph P. Conse. Company I- -Captain, Samuel F. Waldron; First Lieutenant, J. Warren Kitchell; Second Lieutenant, Frank Childs.  Company K-Captain,
William McCoy; First Lieutenant, William H. Cochran; Second Lieutenant, Francis
Tully.
77




610           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
time, the work of recruitment made rapid progress, the regiment
being mustered into the service of the United States on the 3d of
September-only fifty-five days after the rendezvous at Newark
was opened.  The command was in all respects a superior one,
seven-eighths of the officers and three-fourths of the men having
already seen service in the field. Lieutenant-Colonel Enos Fouratt
had participated in all the battles of the First New Jersey Brigade;
the Adjutant had served acceptably with the Twenty-seventh,
while the entire field and staff, and most of the officers of the line,
had previously held commands equal in importance and responsibility to those now filled. The regiment was uniformed in the
Zouave dress, and armed with the best Springfield rifles.
On the 8th of September the regiment, under orders from the
War Department, broke camp, and the next morning embarking on
transports lying in the Passaic, proceeded to Washington, crossing
on the 13th into Virginia, and two days after marching for Warrenton, having in charge a train of thirty wagons loaded with supplies and ammunition.  Upon approaching Warrenton it was found
that General Meade had advanced to Culpepper, and that a body
of rebel cavalry had occupied the abandoned town.  Showing, however, a formidable front, the regiment boldly advanced, and, the
enemy retiring, promptly occupied the place, going into camp in a
strong position just outside of the village limits. Here the command remained until the 19th, when it proceeded to Warrenton
Junction, Colonel Mindil hoping at that point to open communication with General Meade and procure orders as to his subsequent
movements. In this he was successful, the regiment being ordered
to report to General Howard of the Eleventh Corps, which, in connection with the Twelfth Corps, was guarding the line of the Orange
and Alexandria Railroad. Here, with a view of preparing the
regiment for action, which was regarded as imminent, four drills
daily, of one hour each, were ordered, and the men rapidly increased
in efficiency. The command, however, was not to measure strength
with the enemy on that field. On the 24th, orders were received
to prepare immediately for a movement. Inquiry at headquarters
developed the fact that ir view of the reverse at Chickamauga,




THE THIRTY-THIRD REGIMENT.                611
it was deemed necessary to immediately reinforce the Army of the
Cumberland, then holding the defenses of Chattanooga, and that
for this purpose the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps, under General
Hooker, were to be dispatched to the West.  This was a surprise to
the men of the Thirty-third, but they promptly acquiesced, and on
the morning of the 25th, the regiment set out for Washington,
whence, the same night, it departed by rail for the West. Orders
from General Meade to stop the regiment and return it to the Army
of the Potomac, had been received by General Howard at Manassas,
and by General Hooker at Washington, but in each case the regiment had departed before the dispatches came to hand. The regiment had been recruited with a view to service in the West, and
it seemed destined to go there in spite of everything.
From the Relay House, the regiment travelled by rail by way of
Harper's Ferry, Grafton and Benwood, through the States of Ohio
and Indiana to Indianapolis, and thence to Jeffersonville, where the
Ohio River was crossed, and cars were taken from Louisville to
Nashville, Tennessee, reaching the latter early on the morning of
the 30th (September). Bridgeport, a military station on the Tennessee River, in the northeastern part of Alabama, and distant about
two days march from Chattanooga, was reached the same evening,
the regiment bivouacking for the night, and the following day
establishing a regular encampment. Here, the command once more
engaged in active drill, making such satisfactory progress as to
elicit not only the warmest expressions of approbation from
General Howard, but also a request for a permanent detail
from the regiment for guard duty at Corps Headquarters.  On
the 18th of October, Colonel Mindil was ordered to proceed
with three regiments to the mouth of Battle Creek, about six miles
distant on the wagon road to Chattanooga, for the purpose of
relieving General Morgan's Brigade of Western troops, then holding the place. The designated point was reached on the following
day, and General Morgan's Brigade moving forward to Chattanooga, his quarters were at once occupied by the relieving brigade.
This temporary brigade, to the command of which Colonel Mindil
had been assigned, consisted of the Thirty-third New  Jersey,




612           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLIONI.
Twenty-seventh and Seventy-third Pennsylvania, and Eightieth
Illinois Volunteers, and their duty was to protect the pontoon
bridge across Battle Creek, on the only wagon road to Chattanooga
then in our possession, as well as to picket the surrounding country
and assist the heavy trains of supplies in moving over the muddy
and worn-out roads, which required frequent repairs, by new drainage, corduroy, &c. The Thirty-third regiment was assigned to the
camp lately occupied by the Thirty-fourth Illinois, consisting
mostly of small frame structures, which were welcome, indeed, as
a protection against the heavy rains then prevailing. On the 24th
of October, the three regiments were ordered back to Bridgeport
to rejoin the corps, which had been ordered to advance, and Mindil
was left alone with the Thirty-third regiment in this isolated
position, to do the heavy labor formerly assigned to a brigade. On
the 25th, he ordered forward to Jasper (a small village some five
miles distant), two companies of about one hundred and twenty
men, under Captain Boggs, to occupy the town and to send still
further forward to the Sequatchie River a permanent picket of
twenty men and one officer, to guard the bridge on the wagon road
over that stream. Thus the roads, for a distance of six miles, were
under the immediate care of the Thirty-third, and the men were
constantly employed in guarding and repairing them.  In the
meantime (on the 26th), the Eleventh Corps, with Geary's Division
of the Twelfth Corps, all under Hooker, had been ordered across
the Tennessee to open the road to Chattanooga on that side of the
river, it having been found impossible to supply General Thomas'
army by the road held by the Thirty-third, and by the few steamers
plying on the river between Bridgeport and " the front." Hooker
moved forward and fought the successful battles of Lookout Valley
and Wauhatchie-being the first victories achieved on Western
ground by Eastern troops-driving the rebels from the valley up
the sides of the mountain, and thus opening the road from Kelly's
Ferry to Brown's, by which supplies could be forwarded direct to
Chattanooga, by steamer, from Bridgeport to Kelly's Ferry, and
thence by wagons to Brown's, where the Tennessee was crossed by
a pontoon bridge.  Had Hooker failed in this movement, directed




THE  THIRTY-THIRD  REGIMENT.                         613
by Grant, the consequences could not have been otherwise than
most serious; Chattanooga would probably have been abandoned,
since it was impossible to keep the army there in supplies; and the
whole current of the war in that quarter would, almost inevitably,
have been changed.
There being no longer a necessity for the retention of troops at
Battle  Creek, the  Thirty-third  moved  forward, on  the  4th  of
November, to rejoin  its corps in Lookout Valley, reaching the
brigade camp on the morning of the 6th.  This camp was situated
behind earthworks, which had been constructed on the summit of
the lower series of ridges separating the valley from the mountain
held by the rebels. The Thirty-third was assigned a position in
support of the first line of the brigade behind and at the foot of
the ridge, but still partially in view  of the enemy's position on the
crest of Lookout. In this new encampment, the regiment renewed
its drills, reviews and parades, and attained still higher efficiencyacquiring steadiness especially in the performance of actual picket
duty in sight of the foe.  The rebels amused themselves by continually shelling either the passing trains in the valley or the
position of our forces on the surrounding, but lower hills, but their
shots inflicted little damage, owing to the height of their position
and depression of the guns.'
2 When the regiment left Battle Creek, wagon transportation for the necessary baggage could not be obtained, and it was left behind in charge of the Quartermaster,
Lieutenant Libman, with a small guard of convalescents, who were unable to march,
to be brought up by water to Kelley's Ferry. This guard, together with the regimental stores, officers' baggage and records of the Adjutant's office, were placed upon a
large barge, or flat-boat, and on the evening of the 7th of November were taken in tow
by one of the regular steamboats en route from Bridgeport to the Ferry-the guard of
sick men being in charge of Lieutenant Somerville; the baggage under the care of
the Quartermaster. But neither was destined to reach the destination in safety. The
incidents of the trip are thus recorded by the correspondent of the Newark Daily
Advertiser: "Until within about six miles of the ferry, and until about two o'clock
Sunday morning, the steamboat's furnace had been fed with mixed green and dried
wood. At that time, the fireman being out of green wood was compelled to use altogether dry, principally rails. The rate of speed was thereby suddenly and considerably increased, and soon proved too rapid for the broad-bowed barge in tow, and its bow
was dragged and finally dipped under water, when the swift and strong current of the
Tennessee swept off all save the heaviest articles of her cargo, and floated them down
the stream. The barge being lightened soon righted, although filled with water. Fortunately the majority of the men, with the Quartermaster andthe Lieutenant, had gone
on board of the steamboat; only ten or twelve who had comfortably stowed them



614               NEW  JERSEY  AND THT  RBEtLLON.
At length, on the 22d of November, the regiment again moved
out on active service, marching to Brown's Ferry, and thence,
through the camps of Sherman's forces, who had arrived from the
Mississippi, to and beyond the town of Chattanooga, where it
bivouacked in front of Fort Wood.  Grant had at this time arrived
at Chattanooga, and his presence, with that of his faithful Lieutenant, Sherman, and the heroes of Donelson and Vicksburg, gave
promise of hot work at no distant day.  The morning dawned, but
beyond an occasional discharge of ordnance, there was nothing
indicative of preparations for battle. Indeed, our army spread out
along  the plain seemed more ready  for grand review  than  for
engagement, and so the enemy thought, as Bragg afterwards confessed. Noon came, but still no orders reached the Thirty-third,
although on the extreme right the western troops had already comnselves away amidst the canvass remained. These were all floated off the moment the
barge dipped. The instant she righted the Quartermaster jumped upon her, and
assisted by some few others, made strenuous efforts to rescue the men who had been
thrown into the river. The Quartermaster succeeded in pulling out three; a few saved
themselves, but despite all the efforts, four men sank to rise no more alive. Theodore
Drake and Oscar C. Lathrop, of Company C, Patrick Delany, of Company F, and Louis
Wilte, of Company I, were the names of the men thus suddenly and unexpectedly
rushed from life into the mystery of death. After having backed water and going
down stream with the intention of affording aid to the men overboard, the barge was
cut loose and the steamboat kept on to the ferry, on arrival at which the Quartermaster procured a pontoon boat, and with a volunteer crew of three others, went down
the river to secure what might be saved from the wreck. Some of the baggage floated
down the stream, some drifted ashore, sunk, and very little remained on board the
barge. Part of that which floated down the river was broken open andithe contents
scattered over the waters; part of that which drifted ashore was found by citizens or
soldiers, who after taking therefrom all they considered convenient or useful, to prove
their honesty restored the balance: that which sunk was lost; that which remained
in the barge was recovered. The Quartermaster returned after an absence of ten days,
having secured a considerable quantity of baggage, and yet in proportion to the whole,
comparatively small."
Cololonel Mindil writes of this sad affair: " The Quartermaster was much blamed
by the officers for this mishap, many of them asking for his trial. I was convinced,
however, by the testimony of the Captain of the boat and of other disinterested witncsses, not only of Lieutenant Libman's innocence of these charges, but of his coolness and bravery in rescuing some of the drowning men, and of his indefatigable exertions in recovering that portion of the baggage which was found and restored. But
for his coolness and courage, three more lives would have been lost, and had he not
been an indefatigable, faithful officer, nothing would have been recovered. Instead of
censure, Lieutenant James B. Libman deserves praise for his gallant behavior. The
cause of the accident was beyond control, and there is no one who should receive the
least blame. These being my views then, I deemed a Court of Inquiry useless, and the
matter passed over without a regular official inquiry."




THE THIRTY-THIRD REGIMENT.                615
menced to advance. Soon a few rifle shots were heard, then brisk
skirmishing, then volleys of musketry and rapid discharges of
heavy artillery. Looking to the right, our gallant veterans were
seen pressing bravely forward, steadily gaining ground. And now
orders came to the Thirty-third " to unsling and pile knapsacks,"
and move diagonally forward to the left. Moving the short distance the corps was formed for action in two lines, the sounds of
battle on the right growing momentarily louder. Soon, an aid
from Howard having delivered orders, the brigade moved into the
plain beneath and towards a clump of woods skirting Citico Creek,
at a point where the Atlanta Railroad crossed a small stone bridge
-the Thirty-third New Jersey and the One Hundred and Thirtyfourth New York forming the first line, and the Twenty-seventh
and Seventy-third Pennsylvania and One Hundred and Fifty-fourth
New York, a second line in support. The regiments of the first
line at once sent out skirmishers to feel for the enemy and under
their cover the advance was made. Captain Boggs, with Company
A, deployed along the front of the Thirty-third, and about one
hundred and fifty yards in advance, proceeded some twenty paces,
when a heavy fire was opened upon him and the regiment from
every side-from the woods in front, from under the stone bridge
and from behind several small buildings in possession of the foe.
Our object being to gain possession of these buildings and of the
bridge in order to hold the line of the creek, the extreme left of
General Thomas' army, the Thirty-third, for the first time in action,
continued to advance, despite the heavy fire. Company A  not
being strong enough to push back the enemy's sharpshooters, who
were well posted, Captain O'Connor, Company F, was advanced as
a reinforcement, when Colonel Mindil led both companies to the
attack.  Under a brisk fire, the men still continued to gain ground,
and the enemy soon retired behind the creek, still holding, however, the buildings and the bridge. But the advance was not made
without loss. The brave Captain Boggs, while gallantly encouraging his men, was shot in the arm by a sharpshooter, and was
obliged to leave the field, while several other casualties were
suffered. The regiment now halted, awaiting the arrival of the




616           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
troops on the right, but the fire from behind the buildings proving
a serious annoyance to the men in the second line, Colonel Mindil
was soon ordered to charge forward with his whole command and
dislodge the enemy-which was done at once, the regir,~t, with a
cheer, rushing to the assault. The enemy fired rapidly and wildly,
and unable to resist our assault, the buildings were soon in possession of the assailants. But in this movement also the regiment
suffered a severe loss, Captain Waldron, while bravely moving
forward on the right of his company (I), on the extreme right of
the regiment, falling dead, shot through the head by a sharpshooter
from  behind the very house which his company, only a few
moments later, occupied.  He had just received the order to take
this building when the fatal bullet struck him. Brave and cool, in
all respects an accomplished officer, the regiment in his death sustained a loss which could not easily be repaired.  Lieutenant
Toffey, of Company G, who had been directed to assume command
of Company A  after Captain Boggs was wounded, was likewise
severely wounded before he had time to give an order. Thus far
the regiment had acted nobly and gained several advantages of
position, but its success was won at a costly price in the loss of
these efficient officers.
In the meantime, and while the regiment was charging in line,
Captain O'Connor, with Companies F and A, had succeeded in
gaining the banks of the creek, and had even pushed some of his
men across on the flank of the enemy occupying the bridge, but
the regiment having halted, the enemy directed all their fury
against his little command, compelling him to apply for assistance
to enable him to save his command.  This had been foreseen by
Colonel Mindil, who had already ordered forward Company E,
Captain Charles Fields, with Major D. A. Peloubet accompanying,
who was to establish the line in front. On reaching the front, the
Major found several of O'Connor's men across the creek, and
returning for orders, was directed to apprise the General commanding the division of the situation and ask for orders.  Before he
returned, however, orders were received to hold the line of the
creek merely, and Adjutant Lambert was directed to convey the




THE THIRTY-THIRD REGIMENT.                       617
information to Captain O'Connor.  Owing to the heavy fire of the
enemy, the regiment was ordered to lie down close to the ground,
so as to escape the constant shower of bullets-O'Connor's men
meanwhile being protected by the trees from behind which they
had driven the rebels.   In order to  reach O'Connor's position,
however, it was necessary to pass over open ground, in full view of
the enemy on the bridge, and this duty  Adjutant Lambert performed with conspicuous gallantry.  Mounting the Major's horse,
he galloped forward under a heavy fire, when a well-directed shot
carried his horse from  under him.  Not in the least disconcerted,
he extricated himself from the fallen animal, and pushing bravely
on, reached  and  delivered  his orders to O'Connor, who, upon
receiving  them, immediately  recalled  his  daring  men  and  reestablished his line on one side of the creek. All having been
gained  that was desired, the regiment now  merely  directed its
efforts to holding its position, which it did successfully. Night
coming on, the Thirty-third was relieved by another (fresh) regiment of the brigade, and moved back to take its place in the
reserve.  It had fought its first battle, acting bravely and well, and
the men as they bivouacked under the stars felt, justly, that they
had sustained on that'Western field the brilliant reputation which
New  Jersey soldiers had gained in the East.  General Howard,
who had witnessed the gallant charge and steadiness of action,
warmly complimented the command on its splendid behavior. The
aggregate loss of the regiment, considering the work accomplished,
was not large, amounting to one officer killed and two wounded,
and one private killed and twelve wounded.'
3 The following is Colonel Mindil's report of this engagement:
"SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the movements of the
Thirty-third New Jersey volunteers, from the time of its departure from camp in
Lookout Valley, at three o'clock, p. m., on the 22d of November last. In connection
with the rest of the Eleventh Corps, the regiment moved on the afternoon of that day
in heavy marching order, crossed the Tennessee at Brown's Ferry, and bivouacked for
the night on the plain beyond Chattanooga, about two hundred yards to the right of
Fort Wood. On the afternoon of the followingday (23d,) skirmishing was commenced
between the armies in our front, and at three o'clock, p. m., the corps proceeded to
move towards the position assigned it. The First Brigade, Second Division, of which
my command formed part, being arranged in two lines-the outer consisting of the
One Hundred and Thirty-fourth New York on the right, and the Thirty-third New
78




618               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
The entire army now ceased firing, and all rested for the night
on the ground gained during the day from the pickets, advance
guards  and outlying reserves of the enemy.   On  the  24th, the
regiment was early formed in line, but the enemy having been dislodged from  the  bridge by a flank attack  of other commands, it
did not become engaged. Later, however, it was again called to
dangerous service. During the previous night, under cover of the
fighting of the Army of the Cumberland, Sherman had succeeded
in laying pontoons across the Tennessee, near the mouth of the
Chickamauga.  Here he was to cross early on the morning  of the
24th, and assail and turn the enemy's right, so as to interpose
between  Bragg  and Longstreet, the latter being  on his way to
Knoxville.   General Grant, learning  that Sherman  was crossing
Jersey on the left, in deployed order-with skirmishers about one hundred and fifty
paces in advance. The second, comprising the Seventy-third and Twenty-seventh
Pennsylvania, and One Hundred and Fifty-fourth New York, in columns in mass at
supporting distance. These dispositions were made in an open field about five hundred
yards from Fort Wood, fronting Citico Creek, with the left flank protected by a railroad embankment. The order to "forward" was given and the regiment proceeded to
advance. Hardly had the line of skirmishers gained ten paces ere it was fired upon
from the woods skirting the creek. from behind the railroad bridge, and from under cover
of several buildings. The enemy being well protected, at short range and in considerable
force fired very destructively, and Captain Boggs, of Company A, fell wounded at the
first discharge, while gallantly advancing his deployed line. Notwithstanding the severity of the fire, the advance was continued, and Captain O'Connor, with his company,
was sent to reinforce the line in front. This additional force compelled the enemy to
leave their position on this side, and to retire behind the creek. My line of skirmishers had now reached the creek, and on its bank a very hot and lively contest ensued,
the contending parties being but ten yards apart. Both having availed themselves of
the shelter of the trees, but little loss was inflicted. In the absence of orders, and
believing it was the intention to advance until the field was won, I moved forward
Company E, Captain Field commanding, and ordered Captain O'Connor to cross the
creek at all hazards-his force now amounting to about one hundred and sixty men,
at the same time charging forward with the rest of the regiment, under a heavy fire,
to within fifty yards of the enemy behind the walls of the bridge, so as to give him
support. Simultaneously I sent the Major to acquaint the Brigade Commander with
our position, and for further orders. The order came to merely hold the creek, but it
was not received in time to check the onward progress of our skirmishers, who dashed
into the stream regardless of its depth-with water to the waist, moving in spite of
the determined resistance offered, thus gaining foothold on the opposite bank. In
obedience to instructions received, I ordered Captain O'Connor to hold this side of the
creek, and prevent the enemy fron:crossing in turn. Night soon ended the firing,
and at about eight o'clock, p. m., he regiment was relieved by the Twenty-seventh
Pennsylvania Volunteers, bivouacking for the night about three hundred yards in
rear.
Accompanying you will find a list of the killed and wounded; theloss of officers was
unusually severe. Captain Waldron, of Company I, was instantly killed at the head




THE THIRTY-THIRD  REGIMENT.                         619
his forces, at once directed General Howard to establish a connection, and for this purpose Colonel Mindil was ordered to cross the
railroad track, thence to cross Citico Creek below  the bridge so
stubbornly held by the enemy the night before, and, passing around
their right flank, endeavor to reach Sherman, about a mile and a
half distant.   Under the direction  of General Howard, Mindil
effected the crossing of the creek, and at once made the necessary
dispositions to advance, by throwing out skirmishers on the front
and right.   These skirmishers soon  became  engaged  with  the
enemy, who  was  advantageously  posted  behind  the  railroad
embankment, and General Howard fearing that the enemy might
prove too strong, ordered two additional regiments-the Twentyseventh and Seventy-third Pennsylvania —to Mindil's assistance,
when the advance was continued, the brave and veteran Captain
Bartlett guarding well, with Company I, the exposed flank of the
Thirty-third.
So well, indeed, did he manoeuver his skirmishers, that the
of his company while the regiment was charging in line. A soldier by profession, and
a veteran of former fights, he yielded his life in defence of the flag he had sworn to
support. I sympathize with Captain Boggs, Lieutenant Toffey and the rest of the
wounded-it is consoling to know they were injured in a righteous cause with face to
the foe. As for the officers and men, allperformed their duty unflinchingly, and where
all act well it is impossible to discriminate. For a regiment of but three months creation, without much drill and discipline, the Thirty-third did remarkably well. I feel
confident the regiment can now be relied upon for any emergency, as the men will
perform their whole duty. I would bear testimony to the efficiency and gallantry
of the staff; Lieutenant Lambert, Adjutant, for promptness displayed in conveying
my orders to the most exposed position-to Chaplain John Faull, my thanks as well
as those of the command are due, for fearlessness manifested in relieving the wounded
by personally removing them, with the aid of the Drum Corps, to the Surgeon in rear.
Doctor Stiger remained with the regiment at all times, performing his operations under
the fire of the enemy."
The list of killed and wounded was found to be as follows:
JKilled-Captain Samuel F. Waldron, Company I, gun-shot through the heart;
Thomas Marsh, Private, Company H, gun-shot in the head.
Wounded-Captain William G. Boggs, Company A, left arm above the elbow, severe
-died about a month afterwards in hospital from its effects; Lieutenant John J. Toffey,
Company G, right hip, serious-was never able to rejoin the regiment, but entered the
Invalid Corps. Company A-Corporal Christian Switzer, both legs, serious; William
J. Atkins, groin, mortal-died afterwards.  Company C-William  McNeill, groin,
serious. Company D-John Connell, hand, slight; W. H. Post, both thighs, serious.
Company E-Joseph Swethurst, leg, slight. Company F-Corporal William Hearn,
leg, slight; Francis Moakler, knee, slight; James Lewis, arm, slight. Company ISergeant Charles Fongar, hand, slight; William Bannan, hand, slight; W. H. Kelley,
hand, slight.




620           NEW JERgEY AND THE REBELLION.
enemy was unaware of the march of the three regiments, and their
junction with General Sherman was soon effected, without the loss
of a single man.  General Howard accompanied the command,
and here for the first time met Sherman, with whom he was destined in the future to achieve such distinction.  The day was
already well advanced, and it was raining heavily; and but slight
skirmishing appeared to prevail.  As soon as Sherman's forces had
crossed, the Thirty-third advanced with him-the post of danger,
the exposed right flank, being assigned to that regiment.  No
enemy in any strength, however, was encountered, and the regiment bivouacked for the night at the foot of Mission Ridge, near
the Tunnel, over which the enemy was strongly posted. Some of
the Western troops had already gained portions of the crest, by
surprising the enemy holding them.  During the night, heavy
defences of stones and earth were thrown up, to serve as a base
in the absence of connections with the rest of the army, and the
men were told to be ready for action at daylight on the morrow.
It was during the afternoon of this same day, the 24th, that-the
enemy having massed nearly his entire force over the Tunnel to
oppose Sherman —Hooker, with Geary's Division of the Twelfth
Corps, and Osterhaus' Division of the Fifteenth Corps, carried the
sides and crest of Lookout Mountain, planting the Stars and
Stripes on its very summit, above the clouds and in plain view of
both armies. The gains of the day, indeed, had been of the most
brilliant character throughout. Sherman, on the left, had gained
a fine position on the enemy's right.  Thomas, in the center, held
fast to the rebels posted there, in constant demonstrations; while
I-ooker, on our right, by his grand achievement, was placed in
position to attempt the turning of the rebel left and the " rolling
up" of his line-with scarcely a possibility of failure in the
attempt.  The morrow was to be the decisive day, and the night
was spent by both armies in preparations for the deadly struggle.
The morning of the 25th opened with sharp firing on our left,
as Sherman carried crest after crest-the rebel artillery meanwhile
thundering along our entire line and rendering our position exceedingly uncomfortable.  At eleven o'clock, Sherman marshaled his




THE THIRTY-THIRD REGIMENT.                 621
forces for the assault of the rebel left on the Tunnel, and for this
purpose the Thirty-third was moved to the right through the
woods, then across a field, in full view of the enemy, into another
piece of wood, directly opposite the Tunnel.  The Seventy-third
Pennsylvania, of the same brigade, was ordered to the front as
skirmishers, and the Thirty-third placed in position in the rear of a
fence, as a support. In moving forward to obtain this position, the
regiment was subjected to a destructive shell-fire from the enemy's
batteries, which caused some havoc in our ranks, but the line
moved splendidly forward, occupied the alloted space and reclined
behind the protection of the fence. Sherman's attack was heavy
and spirited; but the heavy masses of the enemy defied assault,
and at four o'clock, p. m., the regiments were withdrawn from the
struggle to take post again behind their intrenchments.  This
heavy demonstration, however, had caused the enemy to reinforce
heavily his right; and the left and center being weakened, Sherman
seized his advantage, and pushing forward Thomas and Hooker,
carried the enemy's left and center and drove him ingloriously
from the ridge in his front. Owing to this success, the enemy also
evacuated in Sherman's front during the night; and long before
dawn of the 26th, the eager troops were ordered in pursuit. Thus
had the Thirty-third taken a prominent part in three days of the
heavy fighting of the ever-memorable battle of Chattanooga, and
though raw and inexperienced, acquitted itself with the bravery
and tenacity of their older, veteran comrades. The casualties in
the fight at Mission Ridge, on the 25th of November, were then
reported as follows: Company B-Corporal Henry Stern, shell,
finger; Henry McDonnell, shell, finger.  Company D —Wesley
Conklin, shell, face. Company E-Samuel Searing, leg, killed.
Company F-Julius Bachmeyer, shell, hip; Patrick McDermott,
shell, knee.  Company G —Lewis Mangold, shell, arm.
The rest of the Eleventh Corps had now arrived, and at daylight
of the 26th crossed Chickamauga Creek, moving down behind
Mission Ridge in pursuit of the flying, disorganized foe. At night,
the Thirty-third came up with the rear-guard of the rebels, who
were dislodged after a brief skirmish, and the men bivouacked for




622              NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
the night some four miles from Graysville, through which place
they marched next morning towards Parkin's Gap, with a view of
turning the enemy, who were heavily engaging Hooker at Ringgold. Colonel Mindil was now placed in command of the brigade,
consisting of the Twenty-seventh and Seventy-third Pennsylvania,
One Hundred and Thirty-fourth and One Hundred and Fifty-fourth
New York and Thirty-third New Jersey, which command he held
during the remainder of the campaign. In the absence of Lieutenant-Colonel Fouratt, who was sick at Nashville, Major Peloubet
assumed command of the Thirty-third. The brigade remained at
Parkin's Gap for two days, during which it destroyed the railroad
at Red Clay, thus severing the communication between Bragg and
Longstreet; but it had sterner work before it. On the 29th orders
were received to move towards Knoxville, about one hundred and
twenty miles distant, for the purpose of relieving Burnside, by
coming up in the rear of Longstreet, who had invested the place;
and on the same day, Sherman's army of the Mississippi, Davis'
Division of the Fourteenth Corps, with the Fourth and Eleventh
Corps, moved out to the performance of the task to which they
were assigned.  How that duty was performed by the Thirty-third,
the following diary of the march exhibits:
"November 29th. Moved at six o'clock, a. m., towards Cleveland in a northeasterly
direction, arriving there, after a heavy march of twenty-two miles, about five o'clock
in the afternoon, just as the enemy's cavalry were galloping out of the town.
" November 30th. Moved at six o'clock, a. m., for Charleston, arriving there at two
o'clock, p. m., driving the rebel cavalry precipitately across the Hiawasee. So rapidly
was this done that the enemy had not time to destroy the bridge or a large train
of cars well filled with flour, grain, pork and molasses; marched thirteen miles.
" December 1st. Our troops across the Hiawasee, passed through Calhoun, after filling
their haversacks from the rebel commissariat; then through Riceville and Athens,
encamping for the night about two miles beyond the latter place, after a march of
eighteen miles.
" December 2d. Marched at seven o'clock in the morning via Sweetwater, encamping
about five o'clock, p. m., after a march of seventeen miles, about two miles beyond
Philadelphia.
"December 3d. Moved at five o'clock, a. m., towards London, six miles distantthe enemy having destroyed the bridge over the Holston at this point, we cannot
proceed further on their line, and amuse ourselves by shelling the enemy's cavalry,
who are seen on the heights beyond the river. Information received that Burnside repulsed three successive charges of Longstreet on Sunday, but that he cannot
hold on for more than three days longer. Two days half rations of coffee, sugar, flour
and suet are issued, and we encamp for the night; our supplies of fresh meat were ob
tained by foraging cattle, sheep and hogs as we proceeded.




THE THIRTY-THIRD  REGIMENT.                          623
"December 4th. Remained in camp all day while the pontoneers and engineers constructed a bridge over the Little Tennessee.
"December 5th. Moved at one o'clock, a. m., crossing the Little Tennessee at
David Ford at sunrise, on a bridge constructed of wagon bodies and wheels and trestle;
moved through Unetia, arriving at Louisville at eight o'clock, p. m., after a fatiguing
journey of twenty-two miles.
"December 6th. Sunday, received the joyful intelligence of Longstreet's retreat,
who fled on our approach, and were rejoiced at the consequent safety of Burnside and
Knoxville. The troops were now halted twenty miles from Knoxville, and I rode into
the city in company with Generals Sherman, Howard, Logan and Blair, and arrived at
General Burnside's Headquarters.
"December 7th. Moved at eight o'clock, a. m., toward Chattanooga, and after a
march of seventeen miles encamped about a mile south of David Ford.
" December 8th. Moved seventeen miles, encamping near Sweetwater in a heavy
rain.
" December 9th. Marched fifteen miles, encamping near Athens, remaining in this
vicinity during the 10th and 11th, occupying the time in repairing the worn-out shoes
of the command with some sole and upper leather found in the town.
"December 12th. Moved through Charleston in a drenching rain, encamping, after
a tramp of eighteen miles, two miles beyond.
"December 13th. Moved to Cleveland, encamping on the Dalton Railroad, in the
southeast portion of the town-remained there the 14th and 15th, awaiting rations
from Chattanooga which arrived on the latter day.
"December 16th. The march is resumed, and in a storm which excels all that have
gone before it, we make McDonalds Gap, where we lie in mud without cover from
the rain.
"December 17th. Moved forward down along the Railroad past the old fighting ground of Tunnel Hill, over Citico Creek, around the base of Lookout, over
the wood so lately picketted by the opposing forces into the old valley, and for the
Thirty-third the campaign of a month's duration is finished. General W. S. Sherman,
in dissolving his command, addressed to us these words in General Orders:
"The General commanding thanks all officers and men for the promptness with
which all orders were obeyed, more especially for the cheerfulness exhibited under
privations of the severest kind. Without tents, without rations, with insufficient
clothing, almost without shoes in mid-winter, this army sprang with a generous impulse and marched to Knoxville, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles, over the
worst of roads, and relieved from danger twelve thousand of our fellow soldiers
besieged by a dangerous enemy."
" General Burnside warmly thanked the troops who saved him and his important
stronghold. During the severe fighting, and still more severe marches, the regiment
never flinched, and well earned for itself the commendation of their Division Commander,' Boys, you have done well.' Never have I seen or even read of troops who
suffered like these. They endured hardships that seemed unbearable, with a cheerfulness that appeared superhuman. We read of the sufferings of the patriots of'76 at
Morristown and Valley Forge, and they were terrible; but even this was as nothing to
the pains endured on the road from Chattanooga. The weather often wet, still oftener
bitter cold, the woods deep with mire or frozen into sharp jagged points-all without
blankets, tents, and many without shoes, with no regular rations, the men pressed on
eager to overtake Longstreet. Had the ground been covered with snow, the march of
the Thirty-third might have been traced by the bloody foot-prints of her patriot rank
and file."4
4 Colonel Mindil says of the conduct of his staff during the Knoxville campaign and
the preceding battles:
"Chaplain John Faull, with true zeal and exalted bravery, collected the drum corps
on the field of battle and extricated the wounded as they fell, directing their convey



624               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
The regiment now established a fine camp and went into winter
quarters, where it remained until Sherman, having completed his
plans for a movement against the enemy, once more drew out his
army and commenced the memorable Atlanta Campaign.'  During
the winter the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps being consolidated and
designated as the Twentieth, under General Hooker, the Thirtythird was assigned to the Second Brigade of the Second Division,
the latter commanded by General John  W. Geary.  The brigade
having no general officer for commander, it was led in the following campaign by the senior Colonel, Colonel Mindil commanding
it most of the  time-Lieutenant-Colonel Fouratt, a brave and
capable officer, having immediate control of the Thirty-third.
THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN.
On the 4th of May, 1864, at four o'clock in  the afternoon, the
Second Brigade, then commanded by Colonel Bushbeck, of the
Twenty-seventh  Pennsylvania  Regiment,  broke  camp, crossed
ance to the rear, where Doctor J. Henry Stiger dressed their wounds and administered
to their comfort, under the very fire of the enemy. Too high praise cannot be awarded these officers and the gallant drum corps of little heroes, for this important service.
None were obliged to be there. The Chaplain and drummers, in attending to the
fallen, enabled me to keep all my able-bodied men to the work of attack, and the Doctor, by his proximity to the front and consequent early attendance upon the wounded,
undoubtedly saved the life of many a suffering soldier, who, faint from loss of blood,
would have perished in the conveyance to the hospital, generally, alas, too far in rear.
"Adjutant Lambert did excellently and received commendation in the official report
of the campaign. For "gallantry in action" he was nominated for the Captaincy of
Company A, vacant by the death of Captain Boggs, and Governor Parker made the
appointment. Sergeant-Major Stephen Pierson was promoted to the Adjutancy, and
in his new position gained marked distinction in the subsequent campaigns."
On the 19th of January, a new and beautiful State Flag arrived from Trenton, and
Major-General O. 0. Howard, the commander of the corps, consented to act as the
representative of the State and present the banner to the regiment, which he did in an
appropriate address. The men of the Thirty-third, clad in their neat, bright Zouave
dress were mashalled as if for parade, in presence of the corps, division and brigade
commanders, and the occasion was one of much interest. The Major, as commander
of the regiment, replied to General Howard, Colonel Mindil being the commander of
the brigade. About the same time, Chaplain Faull, who had held a similar position
with Colonel Mindil in the Twenty-seventh regiment, and who was one of the most
devoted of his profession in the service, was presented a valuable horse by the men of
the regiment. On the 20th of February, Lieutenant-Colonel Fouratt returned to camp
after an absence since October 19th, being sick at Nashville with typhoid fever. His
return was the occasion for another social gathering of the officers, who welcomed him
back with the utmost good feeling.




THE THIRTY-THIRD REGIMENT.                625
Lookout Mountain and the State line of Tennessee, and bivouacked
for the night on Georgia soil, near Rossville Gap. On the 5th, the
march was resumed, the Twentieth Corps forming the center of
the army, and encamping on the 6th near Pea-Vine Creek. On
the 7th, the Thirty-third crossed Taylor's Bridge, near Gordon's
Springs, and at night occupied an advanced position on picket, on
the Rome road, eight miles southwest of Dalton-moving on the
day following in rear of the division as guard to the train.  The
Fourth and Twenty-third Corps being already engaged in demonstrating against the strong position of Tunnel Hill and Buzzard's
Roost, General Geary was ordered to proceed to Dug Gap, about
two miles south by west of Dalton, and demonstrate there by
making a heavy assault.  All these heavy demonstrations against
impregnable mountain positions were designed by General Sherman to deceive the enemy, and divert his attention and his forces
from the main point at which it was intended to perform the first
of the series of grand strategic flank movements. On arriving at
Dug Gap, Geary discovered before him  a huge mountain over
which ran a narrow road through a gap in the very summit.  The
mountain was covered with a heavy growth of trees and underbrush, and its sides were filled with loose rocks and boulders. It
was most difficult of access, and the task before him  was vastly
more formidable than the storming of Lookout Mountain, when
our troops were able to advance in line or solid column. But it
was Geary who captured Lookout, and although but ordered to
demonstrate effectively, he determined to attack vigorously and
seek to dislodge the foe from their Georgian Gibraltar. Accordingly, placing his rifled artillery in position, he at once commenced
to shell the Gap, and under cover of this cannonade he advanced
the First and Second of his brigades to direct assault. For nearly
an hour and a half these men heroically attacked, only to be
repelled by an unseen foe at every assault. The rebels were on
the crest of the mountain, behind rocks, trees and rifle-pits, and
poured a murderous fire into the ranks of Geary's men. who had
boldly advanced up the steep sides to within ten paces of its crest.
At length, the position being found impregnable, Geary retired his
79




626            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
line a few hundred yards, in order to reconnoiter again and to
make different dispositions for a final attempt.  Up to this time,
the Thirty-third had not been engaged; but on hearing the firing
in his front, and fearing our force was inadequate to the task in
hand, Colonel Mindil pushed forward with his regiment, without
orders, feeling himself justified, especially as the train was in no
danger, in doing so by all the circumstances of the case.  Upon
reporting to General Geary at the front, he was ordered to make a
detour of half a mile, then scale the ridge, endeavor to reach its
summit and turn the enemy's left flank, while the main force cecupied his attention in front.   This order was at once obeyed,
Mindil's force consisting, in addition to the Thirty-third, of the
Twenty-seventh Pennsylvania and One Hundred and Thirty-fourth
New  York regiments.  After toilsome effort, over and among
rough, rolling boulders, the Thirty-third arrived near the top of the
ridge, driving the enemy's skirmishers before it, when its progress
was impeded by a long series of palisades, rising abruptly from
the mountain sides, and which could only be passed through two
or three small gaps, capable of admitting but one man at a time.
Through these gaps the regiment filed, and, almost exhausted,
formed line upon the rocks on the extreme right of our position, the
One Hondred and Thirty-fourth New York being next on the left.
To flank the enemy was impossible; his works extended along
the crest of the mountain, which rose in a series of still higher
palisades immediately in front.  But one desperate hope of attaining the summit remained; that was seized, and Colonel Mindil,
with the Thirty-third and One Hundred and Thirty-fourth New
York, at once made disposition to carry the crest by direct assault.
Heavy lines of skirmishers were thrown out, a storming column
formed of the One Iundred and Thirty-fourth New York and four
companies of the Thirty-third, the remainder of the Thirty-third
going into position as a supporting line, to guard against pursuit
by the enemy, if the charge should fail, or to dash forward to follow up its success. At length, all being ready, the storming party
charged forward up the sides of the steep mountain, over treacherous, moving boulders, and under heavy volleys of musketry, up




TIE THIRTY-THIRD REGIMENT.                 627
to the foot of the steep palisades, which defied assault.  But
undaunted by the frowning walls, with cheers and yells the men
gallantly endeavored to reach the summit, and despite the terrible
obstacles, many actually reached the crest, only to fall beneath the
murderous bullet, or to be thrust headlong on the rocks below.
At length, finding the position invulnerable, reluctantly and still
fighting, the men fell back to their position on the lower crest, where
they remained until dark, resisting every effort of the enemy to
dislodge them.  After nightfall, it now being clear that the capture
of the rebel position was impossible, orders were given to withdraw; and in good order, slowly and silently, Colonel Mindil
brought off the regiments under his command.  No regiment
could have behaved with more splendid valor than did the Thirtythird on this occasion. It was their stubborn attack, mainly, which
compelled the detention of the enemy, who thus left open Snake
Creek Gap, through which McPherson pushed without opposition,
and Dalton, being flanked, was evacuated.  The regiment lost in
all two officers and four enlisted men killed, and two officers and
twenty-three men wounded —several of the wounded subsequently
dying.  Among the killed was Captain Bartlett, who fell at the
head of his column, gallantly charging upon the foe.  He was an
experienced, veteran officer, and had established a high reputation
for coolness and courage in the battles of the Peninsula and in the
Thirty-third.  Lieutenant Joseph L. Miller, who also fell, was new
to the service, but with his heart in the cause, he promised to
become an excellent soldier, as he was undoubtedly one of the
bravest of the brave.  The bodies of both these officers were
buried by the foe-the Masonic emblems on Captain Bartlett's person gaining for him a respectful burial.  Colonel Mindil promoted
the brave and dashing Cochrane, of Company K, to fill Captain
Bartlett's place, but before the Governor's commission reached him,
he too joined the host of martyrs, bravely falling at Pine Knob a
month afterwards.  The heavy labors of Colonel Mindil in the
charge, leading up the mountain on foot, caused an old wound to
re-open, and against his wishes, he was ordered to hospital for
treatment.  For his part in the action, though overlooked at the




628             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
time, he was afterwards honored with the brevet rank of MajorGeneral.6
The Thirty-third remained with the division encamped near the
foot of the mountain until the morning of the 11th, when under
the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Fouratt, it moved to the left.
The three following days were spent in marching, intrenching and
picket-duty, when, early on the morning of the 15th, the battle of
Resaca was commenced, the Thirty-third becoming actively engaged
about ten o'clock, a. m., when it charged the enemy up a gentle
slope, covered with thick pines, four or five feet high.  Being,
however, in the second line, the regiment was not able to fire,
though exposed to the full force of the enemy's batteries. In this
gallant charge, the Thirty-third planted its colors within ten paces
of the enemy's fort, and effectually prevented his gunners using
four pieces of artillery therein. But beyond this, the line; could
not advance without some destruction.  A small ravine separated
the Second Brigade, of Geary's Division, from Wood's Brigade, of
Butterfield's, and this ravine was unoccupied, but was thoroughly
commanded by the rifles of the left wing of the Thirty-third.
About dusk the enemy assaulted Butterfield in force, and the regiment performed excellent service in pouring a destructive flank fire
into the right of the enemy's crowded columns.  Lieutenants Sutton and Cochrane, commanding Companies C and I, had charge of
the advanced videttes of the regiment on that flank, and by their
coolness and courage did much to encourage their men. As soon
as it was dusk, it was determined to secure the guns which had
been silenced, and accordingly the Thirty-third, with other regiments of the division, dug away the earth in front of the fort, and
quietly fastening ropes to the coveted pieces dragged them into our
6 While in Hospital at Chattanooga, undergoing treatment, Colonel Mindil was
reported fit for light duty (not in the saddle), and was honored with the appointment
of President of the Examining Board for Commissions in Colored Troops, for the
Department of the Cumberland, by order of Major-General Thomas. He performed
the responsible duties of this position for several weeks to the satisfaction of the
Commander of the Army, but, deeming himself strong enough for the field, was at his
own request permitted to resign this position for the purpose of returning to the front
to lead his brigade in the final battle around Atlanta. In five years of service, this
was the only period when Colonel Mindil was not actively engaged in the field.




THE THIRTY-THIRD REGIMENT.                  629
lines-one being carried away by the Jerseymen who had shared
the glory and danger of the charge. The loss of the regiment in
this engagement was three men killed, one officer (Captain Bray,)
and twenty-four enlisted men wounded.  Lieutenant-Colonel Fou
ratt fought the regiment with signal ability, and on this, his first
field of battle with the Thirty-third, gained that reputation for
coolness and intrepidity which he ever afterwards enjoyed.
On the 16th, the march was resumed, the Thirty-third crossing
the Ostanaula and Connasauga rivers, and thence moving through
Cassville, across the Etowah river towards Burnt Hickory.  On
the 25th, after crossing Pumpkin Vine Creek, the enemy was discovered in force near Dallas, or New Hope Church, and about five
o'clock, p. m., with the rest of Hooker's Corps, the Thirty-third
became engaged, driving in the enemy's skirmishers and advancing
until dark, when they reached a strong position of the rebels,
defended by artillery. Here, for half an hour, the enemy's fire
was very hot, and in this position the Thirty-third remained during
the night, exposed to a drenching rain. On the morning of the
26th, finding further progress impossible, the regiment constructed
for itself without much opposition from the enemy, a small line of
logs and earth, behind which to rest with security. During the
night, these intrenchments were enlarged and strengthened; and
Hooker's Corps for seven days was compelled to remain in this
position, during the hottest of weather, whilst Sherman was operating elsewhere. The only duty was that of picket, and this was
unusually dangerous and arduous, every night producing a list of
killed and wounded as the videttes were relieved. The twQ lines
were here so close that no one upon either side dared to show his
head above the breastworks.  All change of pickets and guards
took place after dark.  Here the brave and talented Captain Field
received the mortal wound from which he died ten days afterwards
7 All this time the Major, D. A. Peloubet, was absent sick, and subsequently resigned.
Lieutenant-Colonel Fouratt commanded in all the four battles of Resaca, Dallas, Pine
Knob and Peach Tree. The loss of the regiment at Resaca was greater than that of
any other in the brigade.




63,0             NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
at Chattanooga.8  Probably the most wretched week of the " one
hundred days' campaign" was that spent here; the opposing lines
being within one hundred and fifty yards of each other, the firing
was incessant; the stench from  the dead bodies which could not
be removed, was sickening and their sight discouraging; maggots
covered the ground in thousands, and each succeeding day only
added to the strength of the enemy's works.  Each night's rest
was disturbed by the call to arms half a dozen times in as many
hours, and the men were completely broken down with excitement
and want of rest, when, at length, Logan's Corps, after repulsing
the enemy at Dallas, arrived to relieve Hooker's troops from  this
uncomfortable position.  During the first day's engagement, and
the  subsequent seven days from  May 25th to 31st, the Thirtythird lost one officer and five men killed and twenty-seven men
wounded.'
s "HEADQUARTERS THIRTY-THIRD NEW JERSEY VOLUNTEERS,
IN THE FIELD NEAR ACKWORTH, GEORGIA, June 12, 1864.
" GENERAL: I regret to notify you of the death of Captain Charles J. Field, Company E, from wounds received in the action before Dallas, May 28th, 1864. He died in
the hospital at Lookout Mountain, June 5, 1864.
"His character as an officer and gentleman was without blemish. Brave, fearless
and cool in action, he won the respect of his superiors and the confidence and love of
his men. Hit memory will ever be fresh in the minds of the officers and soldiers of
the Thirty-third New Jersey.
" ENOS FOURATT,
Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding Regiment."
9 The following is the official report of this campaign, dated " In the field near Dallas, Georgia, May 31, 1864," and addressed to Adjutant-General Stockton:
"I have the honor to submit the following report of the services performed by this
regiment during the present campaign up to this date, together with a list of the casualties.
" We left Lookout Valley May 4th, Colonel Mindil commanding. We first went into
action at Rocky-faced Ridge, on Sunday, May 8, 1864, taking part in the assault. The
regiment did well, winning for itself a good name for steadiness and bravery. The
attack only failed because the position was naturally impregnable. Our losses for the
short time were severe, particularly in officers. Captain Sandford, Company B, fell, shot
through the knee, while leading on the skirmishers. Captain Bartlett, of Company G,
and Lieutenant Miller, (company E, were instantly killed while cheering on their men,
and Lieutenant Smith wounded at the same time. At night we withdrew to the base
of the hill. Colonel Mindil, by his great exertions, again rendered himself unfit for
duty, and the next day was sent to the rear.
"Moving through Snake Gap, we again became engaged, about one o'clock, p. m.,
of the following Sunday, May 15, 1864. With the division we charged the enemy, and
with cheers drove them back some distance, effectually silencing four of their guns,
our colors being the furthest in advance of any regiment. Here we lost another valu



THE THIRTY-THIRD  REGIMtENT.                       631
On June 1st, the regiment was moved with the corps towards
the left of the army, then  forward towards " Big-shanty," then
across Alatoona Creek to within three and a half miles bf Acworth
where on the 6th of June a camp  was established, and a week's
rest afforded to the men.  All this time the Confederates were
slowly retreating, fighting our army every step of the way. On
the 14th of June the march was resumed, and a position taken up
near the Fourth Corps, fronting the rebel position on Pine-Knob.
On the afternoon of the 15th of June, Hooker advanced against
the enemy, the Thirty-third at first being in the second or supporting line.  The enemy slowly and deliberately retreating towards
his works, the first line charged forward under a heavy fire, when
the second line, in which was the Thirty-third, was also ordered to
pass to the front and engage the foe. Again, as on other fields,
the Thirty-third advanced in splendid order, as if on parade, though
under a murderous fire, and soon gained an advanced position
within seventy-five yards of the enemy's breastworks. This position they held with tenacity, despite the enemy's attempt to dislodge them, but at nightfall orders were received to be in readiness
to fall back to a more secure position. Accordingly, Colonel Fouratt
ordered but a slight work constructed of such logs and stones as were
convenient.  Much to his surprise, and to the misfortune of the
regiments of the first line, the expected order did not come, and
the morning found them inadequately protected, when the night
able officer, Captain Bray, Company A, who received a musket ball in his thigh, inflicting a very severe flesh wound.
" We next went into action at this place on the evening of May 25th, again charging
and driving the enemy back some distance, until darkness put an end to our operations. On the following day, we remained in position, but on the night began to skirmish, and to the present time have been constantly at the front, under fire from the
enemy's skirmishers.
" The officers and men in this campaign have all done well. To Captain O'Connor,
who has acted as field officer since we started, and to my Adjutant, upon whom I was
obliged to depend in the battle of Resaca, Captain O'Connor having been sick for some
days, I am much indebted for efficient aid on the field and on the march. As the subjoined list shows, the regiment has lost since the opening of the campaign two officers
killed, four wounded, ten enlisted men killed, seventy-five wounded and four missing,
making a total loss of ninety-five killed, wounded and missing.
"ENos FOURATT,
"Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding.'




632           1NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
might have been employed in defence.  The enemy was very
strongly posted above our men, and well protected, and at once
availed himself of our exposed position to slaughter our troops by
a system of most accurate sharp-shooting.  The losses were frightful. The enemy's line of battle overlapping ours, he gradually
worked it around more and more, and commenced to enfilade the
Union line.  While standing up and reconnoitering this enfilading
flank movement, Adjutant Pierson was wounded, happily but
slightly, so that the regiment did not lose his valuable services.
A company of the One Hundred and Thirty-fourth New York was
now  ordered forward to check this movement, but were driven
back with heavy loss after a gallant effort. Another force met a
similar fate, when at last Company I, of the Thirty-third, Lieutenant John C. Smith commanding, was ordered forward, driving
off the enemy's advance and checking his progress-Lieutenant
Smith receiving a severe wound in the arm, which caused his
transfer to hospital. But the work of death did not cease. Many
of our men were killed lying behind the works by rebel sharpshooters, whom we found it impossible to dislodge.  The brave and.
chivalrous Captain Cochrane, so distinguished in every fight, in
attempting, with rifle in hand, to silence one of the more accurate
of the rebel marksmen, was himself instantly killed.  So passed
the 16th of June, a day of anxiety and inaction, with its long list
of killed and wounded.  Throughout the Thirty-third acted nobly,
and was highly commended by Generals Hooker and Geary for its
bravery. It lost in this battle of Pine Knop, June 15th and 16th,
one officer and thirteen men killed, and one officer and forty-three
men wounded, the total casualties of the regiment during the
campaign thus far being eight officers and one hundred and thirtynine enlisted men.  The heavy loss in officers best shows how gallantly the shoulder-straps of the regiment behaved.l~
10 The following is the official report of the regimental action, dated June 21, 1864:
"GENERAL: I have the honor to report that iy regiment participated severely in
the action of Pine Knob, Georgia, on the 15th instant. The conduct of the men under
fire was excellent; the line advanced under withering volleys from the enemy without
a waver, as steadily as if on a battalion drill. No body of men could havedone bet



THE THIRTY-THIRD REGIMENT.                      633
After this engagement, the Thirty-third participated in the
skirmishes of Nances Creek and Muddy Creek, and in protecting
the flank of the assaulting columns of the Fourth C6rps at Kenesaw.  Moving in pursuit of the enemy by way of Marietta, the
7th of July found the Thirty-third in camp near the Chattahoochie
River, and in sight of the steeples of Atlanta, where they enjoyed
a ten days' rest, whilst new supplies were hurried to the front.  On
the afternoon of the 17th of July, the brigade crossed the Chattahoochie, and on the 18th passed over Nances Creek, advancing
through the woods in line of battle towards Atlanta. On the 19th,
Peach Tree Creek was crossed and a small line of defensive works
constructed for the night. On the next day, the memorable 20th
of July, the Thirty-third was ordered to advance with the rest of
the division, the enemy having fallen back and offering no opposition. No one seemed to be aware of the approaching storm of
battle. Brigades and divisions were massed in columns, without
reference to alignment or strategic position, and even the necessary
connections were not made.  The ground in front was densely
wooded and traversed with deep ravines, intersecting each other
in every direction. The advance had not been explored, and the
whole rebel army might easily have laid concealed, as indeed events
eventually proved.  Johnson had now been superceded by Hood,
a bold and reckless fighter, but still no match for Sherman.
About two o'clock, p. m., orders from General Geary directed
Colonel Fouratt to occupy with the Thirty-third a knoll about five
hundred yards in advance of a small temporary line of rifle-pits,
which had been hastily thrown up by the First Brigade, and only
long enough to cover a single battalion. The regiment at once
ter: well did the Thirty-third sustain the proud name the New Jersey soldiers ever
have borne. With deep regret and sorrow I announce to you the death of the gallant
and brave Lieutenant Cochrane, Company K. He fell upon the 16th instant; brave,
cool and ready, possessed in no small degree of talent, a glorious career was opening
before him; his only fault was too much bravery. For his gallantry at Dug Gap, his
name was suggested to His Excellency the Governor for promotion, and on the day
subsequent to his fall, his commission as Captain arrived. He is the third officer
killed while in command of Company G, during this campaign.
"In the action my losses were fourteen killed and forty-nine wounded; among the
last, my Adjutant Stephen Pierson, and Captain Charles Courtois, both slight wounds.
Lieutenant Pierson still remains on duty.         ENOS FOURATT,
"Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding."
80




634            NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
marched over these works and formed line of battle in the road
beyond, a line of skirmishers being deployed in front before the
advance was made.  Then came the command to "forward," and
the movement began.  Everything was still and ominous, so
unusually so, indeed, that'Colonel Fouratt, an old campaigner,
expressed himself as sure of trouble ahead; and he was right.
The knoll was reached, arms were stacked, the skirmishers told to
advance a little further, and rails obtained to commence the construction of a little redoubt for the division artillery. Just then a
tremendous volley saluted the skirmishers, passing over into the
regiment, wounding Lieutenant Childs and others.  For fifteen
minutes the enemy continued to fire rapidly, but the Thirty-third
replied as well, and held its position. That defence was of infinite
value; it gave our army in the rear time to prepare, and so prevented, perhaps, great disaster.  But now the enemy, discovering
that but a single regiment replied to his fire, made a flank movement towards the regimental right, coming down a ravine, at the
same time attacking the left with a rush and a yell. Column after
column was closing in on the right and left and front of the Thirtythird, when, deeming further resistance useless, and fearing capture
if too long delayed, Colonel Fouratt reluctantly issued the order
for retreat.  But the enemy had already occupied most of the
ravine in the rear of the regiment, and every soldier was compelled to escape for himself, the rebels in overwhelming numbers
rushing onward, destroying the color guard and capturing the
State flag, the color-bearer being shot dead. But there was no
disgrace in this repulse, for the same force which succeeded in
driving the Thirty-third, soon drove the entire division, and almost
annihilated the Twentieth Corps.  In fact, Hood's whole army had
attacked the Thirty-third, and it was the spirited resistance of that
regiment which gave our army time to form and repel the savage
and unexpected assault.  The Thirty-third was soon rallied again,
around its national flag, and once more did admirable service in
repelling the last onset of the enemy.ll
1 The following official report gives the record of the regiment in this action, and a
sketch also of its movements from the 25th of June to the 23d of July:
"June 27th, the day of the battle of Kenesaw, we moved out in line, driving the




THE THIRTY-THIRD REGIMENT.                           635
The tattle of Peach Tree Creek was the first of three tremendous
dashing  assaults by  which Hood  sought to  retrieve  the failing
fortunes of the Confederacy. In all respects, it was a most desperate fight, and no regiment sustained a nobler part than the Thirtythird.  Both Hooker and Geary again commended the bravery of
the regiment. The loss of the regiment was over seventy in killed
enemy's skirmishers before us, and occupying without loss, the position to which we
had been ordered on the right of the Fourth Corps.
"      July 1st, we were transferred two miles further to the right, and on the 3d started
in pursuit of the retiring enemy, following them some five miles.
" On the 5th, we again started in pursuit and pushed on until we came within sight
of the enemy's fortifications on this side the river. From this date to the 17th, we
remained in camp, refitting ourselves for a continuance of the campaign.
" On the 17th, we moved on and crossed the Chattahoochie at Pace's Ferry, and on
the 19th fortified ourselves on the south bank of Peach-Tree Creek.
" About four o'clock p. m., on the 20th, I was ordered by General Geary to take my
regiment to a hill at least five hundred yards in advance of our division and corps, to
fortify and prepare it for the erection of a battery. The position was an isolated one,
the ground intersected with deep ravines, running in all directions. I advanced and
took the position as ordered, meeting with no opposition, and then pushed my skirmish line well out on the front and both flanks. General Geary was with me, and from
the feeble opposition our skirmishers had received, combined with the stories of some
rebel prisoners, he was led to believe that the enemy had no large force in close proximity. Scarcely had I completed my dispositions for the erection of the works, before
the enemy advanced en masse, through the woods, pouring volley after volley into our
skirmish line, forcing it back instantly, and rushed upon us with loud yells, delivering
as they came a rapid and effective fire upon us. We held our ground, returning their
fire with vim. Almost immediately another overwhelming force, three lines deep,
came down upon our right flank. I swung two companies around to protect myflank,
but we were too weak to check them, and down they all came upon us. At the same
time column after column could be seen swarming down upon our left. Under these
circumstances, with such an overwhelming force against, and on three sides of us,
with a terrific fire front, right and left, the enemy rapidly gaining on our rear, to stand
was madness, and I gave the order to retire, fighting. The enemy with his dense
masses came rushing down close upon us, so close that they ordered us to surrender
our colors; this we would never do. As we passed down a ravine along which the fire
was terrible, the air being literally full of bullets, the bearer of our State colors fell,
one of the color-guard was killed and one or two captured. To recover the colors was
impossible, and with feelings of the deepest sorrow I am compelled to report that our
State Banner fell into the hands of the enemy. At the same time we feel it to be no
fault of ours; we fought as long as men could fight. With one regiment we received
the first impetus of an attack, to repel which it took the entire force of the corps, and
even then for a moment the result seemed doubtful. The most desperate valor or
heroic bravery could not balance those tremendous odds. Our Brigade Commander,
Colonel Jones, and our Division Commander, General Geary, both expressed themselves as more than satisfied with my success in bringing off so many men as I did, and
my national colors.
" General Hooker, who before complimented the regiment for its conduct under fire,
was pleased to say to me,'Colonel, it is no disgrace to lose a color under such circumstances; I only wonder that a man escaped capture.' The regiment feels sad over
the loss of its beautiful State flag, but with all we feel glad that not a taint of cowardice




636             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
and  wounded-Lieutenants Downes, Aspen  and Warren being
taken prisoners by the foe, Aspen being badly wounded.
The 21st was occupied in burying the dead, and on the 22d the
regiment moved to within half a mile of the enemy's works surrounding Atlanta.   Here heavy works were constructed, and the
regiment was under constant fire for over a month, performing the
heavy duty of the trenches and the dangerous one of picket.   On
the 2d of September, the Thirty-third, with the rest of the brigade,
under Colonel Mindil, was among the first troops to enter Atlanta.
The Thirty-third left Chattanooga with over five hundred muskets, and entered Atlanta with a few over one hundred. Three
hundred  out of the five  hundred  men  were either killed  or
wounded.  It is believed that no regiment of that army can show
a similar record.
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
Upon entering the city of Atlanta, the Thirty-third was assigned
a permanent camp to the right of the McDonough road, about a
mile and a-half from the court house.  In this camp it remained,
devoting the time to drills and parades, and receiving complete
outfits of clothing and camp and garrison equipage, until Sherman
had  completed  his preparations for the March to the Sea.  Its
experiences in that campaign are thus narrated in Colonel Mindil's
report:
" HEADQUARTERS THIRTY-THIRD NEW JERSEY VOLUNTEERS, 
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, December 26, 1864.
"CAPTAIN N. K. BRAY, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, Second Brigade:
" CAPTAIN: I have the honor to submit the following official report of the movements of my regiment, from the 2d of September to the 21st of December, 1864:
"Upon entering the city of Atlanta, the regiment was assigned a permanent camp to
the right of the McDonough road, about one and one-half miles from the court house.
or dishonor attends its loss. No regiment was more proud of its flag than the Thirtythird, none ever fought more desperately to preserve it-but it was impossible. After
reaching our lines, I re-formed my line and joined the brigade. Soon after dark the
enemy retired, repulsed, leaving his dead in our hands.
"My loss in this action was fifteen men killed, three officers and seventeen men
wounded, three officers and thirty-four men missing. The missing are probably all
captured.
"On the 22d, we entered the enemy's works on our front, and pushed on to our
present position very near the city of Atlanta, Georgia.
" ENOS FOURATT,
"Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding."




TltE  THIRTY-THIRD  REGIMENT.                        637
In this camp it remained, devoting the time to drills and parades, and receiving complete outfits of clothing and camp and garrison equipage.
"On the 5th of November, camp was broken, and the regiment moved with the brigade at three o'clock, p. m., out upon the McDonough road, camping two and one
half miles from the city. On the 6th of November we returned to our old quarters.
" November 15th. Broke camp at seven o'clock, a. m., moved out upon the Decatur
road. Camped at twelve o'clock, p. m., near Stone Mountain.
"16th. Moved at eight o'clock, a. m.; led the corps. Marched fifteen miles, crossing Yellow river at Rock Bridge, and halting for the night five miles beyond it on the
Sheffield road.
"17th. Moved at half-past six o'clock, a. m., marching through Sheffield, over the
Ulcofauhatchie, and encamped two miles from Social Circle.
"18th. Moved at half-past five o'clock, a. m., passing Rudden, and camped at halfpast five o'clock, p. m., one mile from Madison.
"19th. Moved at five o'clock, a. m., passing through Madison. Halted for dinner
at Buckhead Station, and continuing the march to within one and one-half miles of
Oconee river, on Georgia Railroad, tore up track afternoon and evening.
"20th. Moved at seven o'clock, a. m., towards Eatonton, passing Park's Bridge and
Slade's Cross Roads. Camped near Dunning's tannery, at six o'clock, p. m.
" 21st. Moved at six o'clock, a. m., towards Eatonton.
"22d. Struck Eatonton Branch Railroad, and passing through Milledgeville and
over the Oconee river, camped two miles beyond it.
"23d. In camp.
"24th. Moved at ten o'clock, a. m., on road to Hebron.
"25th. Passed through Hebron.
"26th. Entered Sandersville, and passed on to Tennille, on railroad, and camped
three miles beyond it.
"27th. Moved at seven o'clock, a. m., and tore up seven miles of railroad, and
marched to Davisborough.
"28th. Brigade detached to guard the corps headquarters train. Marched to Spear's
Station on railroad.
" 29th. Brigade again detached. Moved by by-road to Station Ten and a Half. Tore
up railroad to bridge over Ogeechee river, and'30th. Burned the bridge, and then marched to Louisville, via Watkin's Bridge,
reaching camp of division at twelve o'clock, p. m.
"December 1st. Moved at eight o'clock, a. m., and camped beyond Birdsville.
" 2d. Moved at six o'clock, a. m., toward Millen. Camped at Buckhead Creek.
"3d. Moved at ten o'clock, a. m., crossed Augusta and Millen Railroad; camped
six miles beyond, on the Sylvania road.
"4th. Moved at half-past seven o'clock, a. m.; camped at Horse Creek.
" 5th. Marched fourteen miles and camped, leaving Sylvania to our left.
"6th. Continued the march toward Springfield; roads very soft and marshy,
Camped after a tedious march of six miles.
" 7th. Still continued the march toward Springfield, and camped for the night near it
"8th. Passed Springfield and marched twelve miles, camping near Zion's Church.
"9th. Moved at ten o'clock, a. m., and struck Savannah road. First Division,
Twentieth Army Corps, on our front, skirmished with the enemy, who had a battery
in position covering the road. Camped for the night sixteen miles from Savannah.
"10th. Pushing on, passed Harrison's plantation and the Fourteenth Army Corps.
Struck Savannah and Charleston Railroad nine and one-half miles from the city, and
camped five and one-half miles from it that night.
"11 th. Placed in position as reserves, on banks of Savannah river, opposite Hutchinson's Island, and confronting the enemy's right flank, being in rear of Third Brigade.
12th-20th we remained in the same position.
"21st. Entered the city of Savannah at eight o'clock, a. m., and were assigned to
camp on the parade of the city.




638             NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
"During the entire campaign, the troops have subsisted upon the country, and found
food of all kinds in abundance; never suffering from scarcity of provisions. In front
of Savannah they were unprotected by breastworks, being in the reserve line, and subject to a heavy fire of shrapnel- and shell from the opposing batteries of the enemy in
our front, and to a heavy and provoking fire from a confederate gunboat in the far
channel, round Hutchinson's Island. 1 am happy to state but one casualty occurred,
namely, the slight wounding of private Terence Sweeney, of Company D.
"Before leaving Atlanta, I received one hundred and thirty-six substitutes, nearly all
being raw recruits, many of them foreigners and unable either to write or speak the
English language; and, owing to physical disability caused by the exhaustion attendant
upon so severe a campaign to new soldiers, many were compelled to leave the ranks at
times, and by becoming separated from the regiment during its night marches, and
being unable to intelligibly define their wants and ask the location of their regiment,
have as yet failed to return, and are reported absent without leave. The larger part of
them, it is to be hoped, are with some of the other corps, and will soon find their way
into camp. The command needs a complete outfit of clothing, shoes, etc., and will
then be ready for a new campaign, as both health and esprit are excellent.
"G. W. MINDIL,
" Colonel Commanding Thirty-third New Jersey Volunteers."
CAMPAIGN OF THE CAROLINAS.
The armies of Tennessee and Georgia, constituting the invading
column of General Sherman, rested at Savannah for about one
month, when the grand march  through  the Carolinas was commenced.  The Thirty-third Regiment was commanded by Colonel
Fouratt, and was in the Second Brigade (Second Division, Twentieth Corps), commanded by General Mindil. After a campaign of
six weeks Goldsborough was reached.  The marching averaged
fifteen miles per day, the troops subsisting entirely upon the country, and being mostly employed in the destruction of bridges and
railroads, manufactories, rebel storehouses, and cotton.  The Army
of Georgia, commanded by General Slocum, (with which the Thirtythird was identified,) was assigned the left flank of the column,
being  that in  the  direction  of the  enemy.   The Thirty-third
marched North from Savannah about forty miles, and then crossed
over into South Carolina, at Sister's Ferry, moving via Robertville
and Lowtonville (villages which the troops completely destroyed),
to the Salkahatchie Swamp. Here, after many days labor in bridging and corduroying and some skirmishing, a crossing was effected
and the march resumed towards Blockville, a small village and station onthe Augusta and Charleston Railroad. Here, while Kilpatrick
was fighting at Aiken on the left, and Howard on the crossing of the




THE THIRTY-THIRD REGIMENT.                639
Edisto on the right, Mindil's Brigade was employed in the destruction of about half a mile of railroad track. The ties and sleepers
were burned to cinders, while the rails-after being intensely
heated-were bent and broken or twisted into spiral coils, rendering
them altogether useless. The most of February was very wet, and
the troops were constantly employed in rendering passable for our
immense trains, the miserable roads through the wet and damp
Carolina swamps.  The army was now approaching Columbia, the
Thirty-third moving on the Lexington road. The country was
full of swamps, and the rebel cavalry was constantly in our front,
but the men toiled slowly forward both night and day. Finally, the
North and South Forks of the Edisto were crossed after driving off
the enemy, who made a stand with artillery and cavalry-the
Thirty-third, however, sustaining no loss in these encounters. The
army under General Howard having entered Columbia, just as the
Second Brigade approached it from the left, the course of the latter
was still further deflected, the commandant being ordered to pontoon
the Saluda and Broad Rivers, and proceed up the railroad towards
Salisbury, North Carolina. This movement was but a feint, designed to induce the rebels to mass on our left, while the right wing
moved rapidly under this diversion, via Camden and Cheraw into
Eastern North Carolina. The Second Brigade advanced to Winnsboro', South Carolina, destroying the railroad from there to
White-oak Station, about five miles; other troops being engaged
in a similar duty to the southward. The rebels had retired to a
point behind Chesterville, and on demonstrating in that direction
with cavalry, they crossed the Catawba determined there to impede
our progress-Sherman having totally blinded the enemy respecting
his intentions and destination. The army was now ordered to
make a rapid right wheel, our left flank moving east and northeast,
crossing the Catawba near Rocky Mount, and the Pedee near Cheraw. The Thirty-third then crossed the border into North Carolina and struck a coal railroad to Wilmington near Lumberton,
where it destroyed about a mile of track. It now moved through
a deserted country, hardly affording supplies for the men, and
reached Fayetteville, where connection was formed after five weeks




640           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
absence, with Terry at Wilmington, by means of light draught
gun-boats, which had ascended the Cape-Fear.
The rebels had now comprehended our purpose, and as Schofield
was advancing from  Newbern they determined by a desperate
blow to prevent the fatal junction.  Goldsborough was the objective
both of Sherman and Schofield, and after the former left Fayetteville
to resume his march, Johnson rapidly massed his troops at Averysborough and Bentonville, determined to make a last effort for the
defence of the tottering Confederacy. At Averysborough a few
divisions of the rebel army engaged the First and Third Divisions
of our Twentieth Corps, but after a brilliant fight were compelled
to retire, when the army was advanced cautiously, on near and
parallel roads, and the trains heavily guarded. The weather was
wet and stormy, and the marches through the swamps and bogs
most exhausting.  Mindil frequently marched his troops both night
and day in constant rain, felling and splitting timber most of the
time, so as to build roads upon which the trains might pass in
safety. At times, leaving camp at four o'clock in the morning,
working and toiling all day, midnight found the regiment but six
miles in advance.  But the troops maintained cheerful spirits,
determined to overcome all obstacles. At Bentonville, Joe Johntson
struck Slocum, while'on the march, when a desperate and undecided battle ensued, lasting all day. Sherman ordered the right
wing of the army to Slocum's support, and after gallant fighting
they made the necessary connection, when Johnston, without waiting for the dawn of day, retreated during the night in the direction
of Raleigh.  During the engagement, the Second Brigade was
assigned to the hazardous duty of convoying to a place of safety
the immense trains of the army; a service which was highly
appreciated by the superior officers.  The army reached Goldsborough in safety, having traversed the entire length of the State
of South Carolina, destroying all the principal railroads connecting
Lee's army with its base, and consuming the greater part of the
provisions, means of subsistence and forage in that hitherto inaccessible region of the South. Besides this, Sherman was within
easy marches of Grant, and the theater of war became narrowed to




THE THIRTY-THIRD REGIMENT.                641
a district but a few hundred miles in extent.  The campaign of
Georgia and the Carolinas virtually decided the fate of the Confederacy.
At length, Grant being ready for his final move, the campaign
of Raleigh, the last of the war, was opened. Moving in rapid
pursuit of Johnston, Sherman's veterans, at Smithfield, North Carolina, received the gratifying intelligence of Lee's surrender, hailing
it with jubilant demonstrations. Near Smithfield, and for an entire
afternoon, the Thirty-third regiment successfully fought the retreating rebel cavalry, and there fired the last shots of the war. Johnston's surrender soon followed, and about a week after the homeward march was resumed, by way of Weldon, Five Forks, Richmond and Fredericksburg, the Thirty-third reaching Washington
in time to participate in the grand review of the Armies of the
Republic. The Thirty-third was retained in service until August
2d, lying near Alexandria, when it was ordered to be mustered
out, and proceeded to Newark.
This regiment, in a little less than two years, traversed a distance
of two thousand five hundred miles, over one thousand seven
hundred of which were accomplished by marching. It fought in
eight battles, and engaged in over a dozen skirmishes.  Although
but two years in service, the losses of battle and campaign were
such that the regiment was twice filled. That the Government
highly appreciated the services of the regiment, the number of
brevets conferred upon its officers clearly shows.
81




CIHAPTER XXVIII.
THE   THIRTY-FOURTH    REGIMENT.
THE Thirty-fourth Regiment was raised during the summer and
autumn of 1863, principally from  the counties of Mercer, Salem,
Burlington and Camden, with numerous recruits from all parts of
the State, and a plentiful addition, from the neighboring cities of
New York and Philadelphia, of men attracted by the large bounties then being paid. The term of enlistment was for three years.
The first place of rendezvous was Beverly, where the regiment was
under the command of Colonel E. B. Grubb, formerly  of the
Twenty-third.  About the 25th  of October, the regiment was
removed to Camp Parker, near Trenton, where the complement of
men was obtained and mustered in.  The Colonel was William
Hudson Lawrence, a Captain in the Fourteenth Regular Infantry,
who had obtained leave of absence from the Secretary of War, to
take a volunteer command. The Lieutenant-Colonel was Timothy
C. Moore, formerly  of the Fifth  New  Jersey Volunteers.  The
Major was Gustavus N. Abeel, of the First New  Jersey Infantry,
and who had been serving for a year before on the staff of General
Torbert, then commanding the First Brigade.  The staff and line
officers were as follows:
Adjutant, James Graham; Quartermaster, Abel H. Nichols; Surgeon, J. B. Bowen;
Assistant-Surgeons, Charles H. Suydam, David G. Hetzell; Chaplain, Archibald Beatty.
Company A-Captain, Edmund G. Jackson; First Lieutenant, Elisha V. Glover, Jr;
Second Lieutenant, Richard Moore.  Company B-Captain, Jesse Cogswell; First
Lieutenant, Charles H. Seamen; Second Lieutenant, Isaac T. Agar. Company CCaptain, Robert M. Ekings; First Lieutenant, Martin L. Haines; Second Lieutenant,
Augustus W. Grobler. Company D-Captain, William Nippins; First Lieutenant,
Thomas T. Taylor; Second Lieutenant, Daniel Buckley. Company E-Captain, Joseph
R. Horner; First]Litutenant, William H. Gibson; Second Lieutenant, John Schwartz.
Company F-Captain, Henry P. Reed; First Lieutenant, Alexander L. Cullin; Second
Lieutenant, Smith Bilderback. Campany G-Captain, James S. Iugg; First Lieutenant, William H. Myers; Second Lieutenant, Julian P. Wright. Company IH-Captain, Forrester L. Taylor; First]Lieutenant, Arthur H. Smith; Second Lieutenant,
William] Stanley. Company I-Captain, William 0. Blood; First Lieutenant, Albert
C. Fuller; Second Lieutenant, Isaac Hugg. Campany K-Captain, Samuel Bolton;
First Lieutenant, William P. Johnston; Second Lieutenant, John B. Wright.




THE THIRTY-FOURTH REGIMENT.                643
After unavailing efforts on the part of Colonel Lawrence to have
the regiment attached to the Army of the Potomac,4it was ordered
to Eastport, Mississippi, to report to General WV. T. Sherman, and
in pursuance of this order, left Trenton on the morning of the 16th
of November, 1863, for Philadelphia, its strength for duty being
eight hundred.  Passing through Philadelphia, by way of the
Pennsylvania Railroad to Pittsburg, and thence to Jeffersonville,
Indiana, it there took steam-transports down the Ohio River to
Paducah. During this trip about seventy men, who belonged to a
class with which all the later regiments were embarrassed, were lost
by desertion. They enlisted for the bounty, and having obtained
it, left at the first opportunity. The main material of the regiment
was good, and had it been permitted to take a more active part in
field operations, it certainly would not have failed to sustain the
high standard of New Jersey troops.
On the way down the Ohio, on the 21st of November, 1863,
Lieutenant-Colonel Moore was placed in arrest, from which he was
not released until the 3d of July, 1864. After remaining at Paducah a day, the same transports conveyed the Thirty-fourth, in company with the Second New Jersey Cavalry and the Thirty-fifth
New Jersey Infantry, three hundred miles up the Tennessee River
to Eastport, Mississippi.  About five thousand troops had been collected there for the purpose of keeping open communications and
to co-operate with forces in the interior, but a change of plans gave
rise to an order involving the removal of the whole force from
Eastport to Columbus, Kentucky, and in pursuance of this order
the 12th of December found the regiment on its way down the
Tennessee. It arrived at Columbus, a town situated about thirty
miles below Cairo on the Mississippi, on the 20th day of December,
and immediately proceeded to Union City, Tennessee.  Here it
became part of the command of Colonel Waring.  General A. J.
Smith was in command of the district, with his headquarters at
Columbus. At Union City, the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth New
Jersey were encamped side by side.
On the 20th of December, General Smith arrived from Columbus,
organized his command of about six thousand men into brigades,




644            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
and on the 22d of the same month took up his line of march
towards a town in the interior of Tennessee, for the purpose of
meeting Forrest, who had advanced across the Hatchie River with
a large force.  After a march of several days, the expedition
reached Huntingdon, Tennessee.  The cavalry was sent forward to
Jackson, but with no better result than to see the heels of Forrest's
flying troops, who retreated southward more rapidly than General
Smith cared to follow. Forrest being out of the country, the command retraced its steps, by way of Paris, Tennessee, and the State
line road. The march was a severe one. At one time the Thirtyfourth, officers and men, slept upon the snow, which was several
inches deep, without blankets or tents to shelter them, the thermometer registering ten degrees below zero.
On the 21st of January, 1864, the Thirty-fourth returned to
Columbus, Kentucky.  General Smith and the rest of the command moving away, down the Mississippi, the regiment was left
at that point as a permanent garrison.  Colonel Lawrence was
placed in command of the post, and Major Abeel in command of
the regiment.  The men were housed in comfortable barracks, and
advantage was taken of this opportunity to thoroughly drill the
battalion and fit it for active service. The Inspector of the Department, about this time. complimented it as the best drilled, equipped
and ordered regiment in his inspection district.
During the winter of 1864, a company of the regiment was
mounted under command of Lieutenant Julian Wright, a gallant
officer, who succeeded in breaking up and capturing various predatory bands of guerillas or "wild-cavalry."  These bands frequently appeared in such force as to require the support of the
whole regiment, and often upon these occasions, both officers and
men gave evidence of superior courage and efficiency.
One incident in the history of the regiment about this time is
recorded in the report of General Grant, and deserves special notice.
Speaking of Forrest's raid into Kentucky, he says:
"During the months of March and April, 1864, this same force, under Forrest, annoyed us considerably. On the 24th of March it captured Union City, Kentucky, and
its garrison, and on the 24th attacked Paducah, commanded by Colonel S. G. Hicks,
Fortieth Illinois Volunteers. Colonel H., having but a small force, withdrew to




THE THIRTY-FOURTH REGIMENT.                    645
the forts near the river, from where he repulsed the enemy and drove him from the
place.
" On the 13th of April part of this force, under the rebel General Buford, summoned
the garrison of Columbus, Kentucky, to surrender, but received for reply from Colonel
Lawrence, Thirty-fourth New Jersey Volunteers, that, being placed there by his government, with adequate force to hold his post and repel all enemies from it, surrender
was out of the question."
The facts as to this affair are briefly these: On the morning of
the 13th of April, a brisk skirmishing commenced on the picketline; presently the enemy appeared in considerable force, and the
command prepared for action.  Soon, however, the firing ceased,
on the appearance of a flag of truce bearing a letter from General
Buford, commanding a portion of the Confederate forces, in which
he stated that he desired to avoid the useless effusion of blood,
and demanded an immediate and unconditional surrender of the
Post.  Colonel Lawrence's prompt and gallant reply is given above.
After a desultory skirmish for some hours, the enemy withdrew,
foiled in his purpose to carry the position.
During the month of May, a spirited engagement took place at
Hickman, Kentucky, between a detachment of the Thirty-fourth
and some rebel cavalry. No prisoners were taken, but several of
the enemy were killed.  Lieutenant Johnston distinguished himself by a hand to hand contest with some of the enemy, whom he
finally dispatched with his pistol.
On the 9th of July, the regiment was ordered to proceed into
the interior for the purpose of dispersing the command of Colonel
Outlaw who was plundering the country with a force of some five
hundred men.  The enemy was encountered in force near Clinton,
Kentucky, and after a sharp action of two hours, he. was defeated
with a loss of five killed, thirty wounded, and seventeen prisoners,
including the notorious Captain Kesterson, who was executed
shortly after.
During two months following, Captain Ekings' Company was
stationed upon Island Number Ten, where it rendered efficient
service.  On the 15th of August, the regiment was ordered by
General Payne, then in command of the District of Western Kentucky, to proceed up the Ohio River to a place called Uniontown,
Kentucky, to join other troops in an expedition in quest of the




646           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
rebel Generals Johnston and Adams, who had " raided" into Kentucky.  The command was organized in brigades, of which Lieutenant-Colonel Moore commanded one, including the Thirty-fourth,
under command of Major Abeel. After a march of several days
without discovering the enemy, the force was broken up, and the
Thirty-fourth returned to Columbus. On the 28th of August, the
regiment was ordered to Mayfield, Kentucky, where it remained
several weeks, engaged in constructing an elaborate fortification,
but was finally withdrawn to Paducah. Here Lieutenant-Colonel
Moore met with an accident which disabled him for duty.  Major
Abeel was detached from the regiment at one time as president of
a Military Commission, and afterwards as permanent officer of the
picket. Colonel Lawrence was placed in command of a cavalry
brigade, the regiment being under the command of Captain
Ekings.
About the 25th of December, 1864, the regiment was ordered to
join General A. J. Smith's Corps (the Sixteenth), and proceed to
Nashville. It arrived there too late for the battle-and accordingly returned to Paducah on the 10th of January, 1865. Major
Abeel here resigned, and the regiment, undey command of Colonel
Lawrence, left Paducah on the 11th of January, for Eastport,
Mississippi, with the Eleventh Army Corps. Here they suffered
keenly for want of food, having nothing to eat for four days except
parched corn. On the 7th of February, the regiment left Eastport
with the rest of General Smith's command, the latter having been
ordered to report to General Canby at New Orleans. The command reached the latter city on the 22d of February. The capture
of Mobile having been determined upon, on the 17th of March the
regiment left New Orleans with the whole command for Dauphin's
Island. On the 8th and 9th of April it took part in the assault and
capture of the Spanish fort, Forts Hugar, Tracey and Blakeley, in
which action it lost three killed and fifteen wounded. At Fort
Blakeley the regiment was in the center of the assaulting line; on
its right was the Eleventh Wisconsin and on its left the One Hundred and Seventy-eighth New York, the brigade being under the
command of Colonel Wilson. Colonel Lawrence led the regiment




THE THIRTY-FOURTH REGIMENT.                647
gallantly, and both officers and men conducted themselves with
distinguished courage, not a man flinching from the fierce rain of
shot and shell poured out from the fort. They were not the first
over the walls, only because they had a longer and harder road than
the other regiments of the brigade.
After the capture of Mobile, the regiment was sent to Montgomery, Alabama. There it remained for several months, doing provost duty and supporting the Freedmen's Bureau. During the fall
and winter of 1865, detached companies were stationed at Montevallo, Talladega, Gainesville, Tuscaloosa and other towns on the
Alabama and Tennessee River Railroad. In the month of October,
1865, Colonel Lawrence resigned, when Lieutenant-Colonel Moore
became Colonel, afterwards receiving the brevet of Brigadier-General. The regiment was mustered out on the 10th of April, 1866,
and reached Trenton on the 30th of April, where it was paid off
and disbanded.
The Thirty-fourth New Jersey, serving as it did two thousand
miles from home, attracted less attention than those New Jersey
troops who were more nearly under the eye of the State. Going
to the Western army, it encountered the prejudice which existed
in that army against Eastern troops, but it served long enough to
live down that prejudice, to wring expressions of admiration from
unwilling lips, and to carry the fame of New Jersey soldiers into
the valley of the Mississippi.
The regiment was unfortunate in not having been sooner ordered
into the field with the larger armies, but when it did encounter the
enemy, it never failed to do its entire duty. It had the honor of
striking one of the last blows at the rebellion, and of being the
last volunteer regiment from New Jersey to quit the service of the
Union upon the conclusion of the war.




CHAPTER XXIX.
THE  THIRTY-FIFTH   REGIMENT.
THE Thirty-fifth Regiment, recruited chiefly in the Counties of
Essex and Hunterdon, was mustered into service at Flemington,
in September, 1863, and  soon after proceeded to Washington.'
Thence, it was transferred, some weeks later, by way of Wheeling
and Cincinnati, and Jeffersonville, Indiana, to Paducah, Kentucky,
whence, in company with the Thirty-fourth Regiment, it was conveyed by transports up the Tennessee River to Eastport, Mississippi, where a force of troops was collecting with a view of guarding the communications of our army in the interior. Other orders,
however, being received, the regiment, early in December, was
removed to Columbus, Kentucky, and thence to Union City, Tennessee, where it went into winter quarters, Colonel Cladek having
for a time command of the post. About the middle of January,
1864, the regiment returned to Columbus, and with the rest of the
command proceeded down the Mississippi to Vicksburg.  Moving
1 The original roster of the regiment was as follows:
Colonel, John J. Cladek; Lieutenat-Colonel, Willian A. Henry; Major, Austin H.
Patterson; Adjutant, J. Augustus Fay, Jr.; Quartermaster, Lemuel R. Young; Surgeon, George E. Summers; Assistant-Surgeons, Richard G. Taylor, John T. Lanning;
Chaplain, Nathaniel L. Upham. Company A-Captain, Charles A. Angel; First Lieutenant, Andrew L. Day; Second Lieutenant, James McMillan. Company B-Captain,
William H. Williams; First Lieutenant, Robert Rea; Second Lieutenant, Edwin G.
Smith. Company C-Captain, George E. Dayton; First Lieutenant, Samuel H. Pennington, Jr.; Second Lieutenant, Stephen D. Soule. Company D-Captain, Richard
D. Cook; First Lieutenant, David Pierson; Second Lieutenant, David S. Oliphant.
Company E-Captain, John B. Sine; First Lieutenant, Charles B. Cornish; Second
Lieutenant, James Vanover. Company F-Captain, Ira C. Carman, Jr.; First Lieutenant, Abraham J. Beekman; Second Lieutenant, Samuel J. Beekman. Company GCaptain, Louis Helmer; First Lieutenant, Frank S. Taylor; Second Lieutenant, John
N. Rose; Jr. Company H —Captain, William Spain; First Lieutenant, James W. Christie; Second Lieutenant, Lawrence Farrell. Company I-Captain, Augustus Dusenberry; First Lieutenant, Samuel J. Harman; Second Lieutenant, John R. Ross. Company — Captain, John T. Rowell; First Lieutenant, Henry A. Speeler; Second Lieutenant, Charles F. Cole.




THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT.                649
out from that point, it participated in the Meridian expedition in
February, having several skirmishes and losing a few men, being
absent altogether thirty-two days. Returning to Vicksburg, it
was now transferred to Cairo, whence, after a week, it was sent
to Sherman's army, then preparing around -Chattanooga for its
memorable campaign against Atlanta. Here it was attached to the
First Brigade, Second Division, Sixteenth Corps, and without
delay addressed itself to the work of preparing for the formidable
encounters justly supposed to lie before it.
The first engagement of any importance in which the regiment
participated, occurred on the 13th and 14th of May, before Resaca,
Georgia, to which the rebel army under General Johnston had
fallen back from Dalton. On the morning of the 13th, the Thirtyfifth, which belonged to the Fourth Division of the Sixteenth
Corps, was ordered to advance, which it did for a distance of some
five miles, when line of battle was formed, and the advance was
renewed, the troops pushing over hills and through ravines, until
the extreme front was reached. The regiment was now in an open
plain, with the enemy only some two hundred yards distant, concealed by bushes, from which he at once opened fire. The fire,
however, was promptly returned, compelling the rebels, numbering
two regiments, to abandon their position in some disorder. The
Thirty-fifth, then obtaining the cover of the woods (but pursuit
being deemed imprudent), was ordered to the left as a support to a
battery.  Here the men were peculiarly exposed, being not only
in line of the shots of the enemy, but liable to be crushed by
the falling branches of trees severed by the balls and shells of
our own guns.   The regiment, however, stood bravely at its
post, holding the ground during the night-having lost during the
day one man killed (Rudolph P. Cain, of Company K,) and thirteen
wounded.  On the morning of the 14th, the enemy again opened
fire, no reply, however, being made by our line. About noon, the
Thirty-fifth was ordered up as a support to a storming party, and
being obliged to move along a narrow road and across a bridge,.
suffered some loss from the musketry of the rebels, of whom there
were two brigades in front. The regiment, however, bravely per82




650              NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
formed its part, and being afterwards ordered to the right to assist
in checking an advance of the rebels, successfully executed that
duty also, repulsing the enemy and holding and intrenching the
ground it had occupied.   Here, behind  the  hastily  constructed
works, the command remained during the whole of the following
day, repelling  all assaults and inflicting  serious damage on the
enemy.  Resaca being evacuated, on the 15th Captain Angel, with
two companies, was sent into the town, where  he captured thirty
prisoners and took two mails. Among the wounded in these two
days' operations were Lieutenants S. J. Harman and  E. G. Smith.
The total casualties amounted to two men killed, two officers and
twenty men wounded.2
2 The following is Colonel Cladek's report of this action as made to Governor
Parker:
"SIR: I have the honor to report to your Excellency, the part taken by my regiment, under my command, in the action of Resaca, Georgia, on the 13th, 14th, and
15th of May, 1864.
" Between the hours of three and four o'clock, p. m., May 13th, the regiment formed
in the third line of battle on the right of General Morgan L. Smith's command,
advancing in line over fences and up a wooded hill, crossing ravines hardly passable
for mounted officers. My regiment cleared the fences and wood-land at double-quick
time, coming out on an open plain facing the river Oostenaula, about two miles above
the town of Resaca, Georgia. The regiment had but cleared the woods, when two
rebel regiments opened a brisk fusilade fire on us. I immediately gave the command
"commence firing," not, however, before I had three or four men wounded. Two
lines of battle were before me when I entered the woods, but somehow, through the
nature of the ground I got to the extreme front; the firing lasted about fifteen minutes, when both the rebel regiments gave way and ran, when I withdrew my regiment
under cover of the woods, on account of a regiment to my left giving way, and I thinking myself flanked-otherwise I would have charged upon the retreating rebel regiments. In this day's action I lost one killed and thirteen wounded; my own and Lieutenant (Acting Adjutant) Pierson's horses were wounded. The enemy giving way in
this quarter, we were ordered to the left to support some of our batteries, but in such
a position as to be under two fires, the enemy's shells bursting over us, and our own
shot tearing limbs of trees to splinters above our heads, which became dangerous for
my men. Here I lost several men wounded, as two of my companies, E and I, were
out skirmishing with the rebels, under command of Captain Charles A. Angel, my
Acting Major, on the river front.
"Early on the morning of the 14th, we left our position of supporting batteries for
Resaca. We crossed a bridge under the rebel works where we received a deadly fire
from artillery and infantry, under cover of rifle-pits. Here I lost one man killed and
one wounded, and would have lost many had I not immediately, seeing the danger,
ordered my men under cover. Shortly after an order came to return to our brigade,
ordered to the rear for refreshment and rest. But at that moment our right center
under General Morgan L. Smith being repulsed, I was ordered with my regiment to his
support, passing through the right under the rebel works.
"After arriving on the new position assigned me, the Thirty-fifth gave three rousing
cheers, tending to inspire our troops in front with fresh energy, when the rebels opened




THE THIRTY-FIFTH  REGIMENT.                           651
The enemy having withdrawn, our army at once pressed forward
in pursuit, capturing Rome and Kingston, appearing in the vicinity
of Dallas on the 25th. The country traversed was very rugged,
mountainous and densely wooded, with few and obscure roads, and
the march was attended by many discomforts; but the troops suba cross-fire of shot, shell and cannister upon us as we advanced, but fortunately, we
escaped with one man wounded. At half past nine o'clock, p. m., we were ordered to
throw up intrenchments, which we did, and at three o'clock, a. m., the 15th, we were
safely behind them, where we lay safe all the following day-delivering a murderous
fire, and repulsing every attempt made by the rebels to advance, the enemy's fire taking no effect upon us. Some time during the night the rebels evacuated Resaca, and
Captain Angel, with the two companies under his command, was ordered to enter the
town, which duty he performed admirably, capturing thirty rebels and two mails, one
to, and one from their army, which they did not have time to assort.
" In respect to the behaviour of my regiment in this action I cannot find words to
express my satisfaction. Officers and men tried to outdo each other in gallant behaviour, especially Captain Charles A. Angel, Acting Major, and Lieutenant David Pierson, Acting Adjutant. To both those officers great honor is due. I not alone recommend them to your excellency, but the whole regiment to a man, acting like a body of
soldiers grown old in battles. I feel as proud of them as Napoleon did of his'Old
Guard.' They have earned and won for themselves a gallant name among our Western
troops in the Department, and Army of the Tennessee.
"JOHN J. CLADEK,
" Colonel Commanding Regiment."
The following correspondence between General Woods and General Dodge, Commanding the Left Wing of the Sixteenth Army Corps, is of interest in this connection:
"  HEADQUARTERS, FIRST BRIGADE, FIRST DIVISION, FIFTEENTH CORPS, I
NEAR KINGSTON, GEORGIA, May 21, 1864.
"GENERAL: * *  * General Smith wishes me to speak most approvingly of the
conduct of the Thirty-fifth New Jersey Infantry, sent to him when his troops were
hard pressed. On ascending the crest of the hills they gave three rousing cheers which
inspired my troops with fresh vigor. Although a small regiment, they acted nobly,
as my support on the 14th of May, and until the enemy retired.
"I am, General, your obedient servant.
" CHARLES R. WOOD,
"Brigadier General Commanding.
"To Brigadier General G. W. DODGE, Commanding Sixteenth Army Corps."
"HEADQUARTERS, LEFT WING, SIXTEENTH CORPS, }
"NEAR KINGSTON, GEORGIA, May 21, 1864.
"BRIGADIER GENERAL CHARLES R. WOODS, Commanding First.Brigade, First Division,
Fifteenth Corps:
" GENERAL: I take great pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of your communication of this date, in relation to the Twenty-fifth Wisconsin and Thirty-fifth New Jersey Infantry. It has been forwarded promptly to them, and will receive their hearty
response.
"Please accept my thanks for your prompt and generous acknowledgment of their
services.
"I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"G. W. DODGE,
"Brigadier General Commanding,"




652            NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
mitted cheerfully to all fatigues. At Dallas, Johnston had concentrated his forces with a view of checking our further advance, his
intrenched lines extending from  Dallas to Marietta, over a most
difficult region.  Here two days were spent, amid skirmishing and
fighting, in making careful approaches-a fierce engagement taking
place on the 25th, near New Hope Church, four miles north of
Dallas, between Hooker's Corps and a part of the rebel force.  On
the 27th, Johnston struck our right at Dallas, but was repulsed
with loss.  On the same day, the Thirty-fifth was again engaged,
two companies under Captain Angel (Acting Major) being deployed
as skirmishers, and charging the enemy with great gallantry,
driving him from an eminence which other regiments had entirely
failed to carry. Subsequently, however, the rebels advancing two
lines of battle, the Jerseymen were obliged to fall back, which they
did in good style. During the two following days the regiment
was almost constantly  engaged  on  the skirmish  line, losing
altogether four men killed, eight wounded and one missing. The
killed were Michael Furry and Theodore Case, of Company E,
George Pratt, of Company F, and William Cordham, of Company I.'
On the 1st of June, moving his army to the left along the rebel
front and enveloping Altoona Pass, Sherman compelled the enemy
to evacuate that position, and also to fall back from the intrenchments covering New Hope Church and Ackworth.  Altoona Pass
was promptly garrisoned and made a secondary base of supplies,
and the communication between that point and others in the rear
being fully restored, Sherman again moved forward.  On the 5th,
the Thirty-fifth regiment was ordered to the flank, and after constructing an earthwork, was advanced to Ackworth and thence to
Big Shanty, where our forces were rapidly concentrating, prepara3 The following is an extract from Colonel Cladek's official report:
"On the 27th of May, Company I, Captain Dusenbury, and Company E, Captain
Sine, were deployed as skirmishers, under command of Captain C. A. Angel (Acting
Major), and charged the enemy in splendid style, driving them from a very strong position, and from which other regiments had tried in vain to dislodge them.
"The behavior of the officers and men engaged is worthy of all praise, although they
were compelled to relinquish the hill, for which they fought so gallantly, as two of the
enemy's lines of battle advanced against them. Several regiments tried for the next
three days to gain the hill, but did not succeed."




THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT.                653
tory to a fresh demonstration. Kenesaw mountain, with its alnost
equally formidable neighbors, Pine and Lost mountains, now stood
in Sherman's path. On the peak of each of these mountains the
enemy had his signal stations, and in front of the points not impregnable by nature, Johnston had arrayed strong lines of battle, the
left resting on Lost Mountain and the right extending across the
Marietta and Ackworth road. By the 11th of June, Sherman's
lines were close up, and he made dispositions to break the enemy's
lines between Kenesaw and Pine mountains.  On the 14th and
15th, while Hooker and H-oward were pushing the enemy, the
Thirty-fifth Regiment was engaged on the skirmish line, losing
seven men killed and eight wounded-Captains Courtois and Frazer
being among the latter. On the 16th it marched to Kenesaw and
participated in the movements against that position until, after constant battering and murderous fighting extending over a fortnight,
Sherman determined to throw his whole army rapidly by the right to
threaten Nickajack Creek and Tanner's Ferry, across the Chattahoochee.  This movement compelled Johnston to abandon Kenesaw, and on the 3d of July it was in our possession.  On the 2d,
while advancing upon the rebel works near Nickajack Creek, the
skirmishers of the Thirty-fifth had another smart engagement,
during which Acting Major Angel, while only thirty yards from
the rebel position, was killed. No officer in the regiment had displayed higher soldierly qualifications or was more generally beloved;
and his death was sincerely lamented, not only in his own command, but throughout the entire brigade.
Immediately upon  Johnston's withdrawal, our whole army
pressed forward in pursuit.  On the 8th, the thirty-fifth entered
Marietta, proceeding thence to the Chattahoochee, which it forded
on the 9th. Intrenching strongly, the regiment, with the rest of
the army, rested for some days, Johnston meanwhile taking up a
new line covering Atlanta, but being superceded in command by
General J. B. HIood only a day or two after. On the 19th, the
4 The loss of the regiment during the operations at Kenesaw was thirteen men
wounded.




654           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Thirty-fifth, having resumed its advance, reached Decatur, proceeding the day following to the front some three miles, but returning on the 20th, and participating on the 22d in the engagement at
that place. At this time, three regiments of the brigade, with an
aggregate strength of fourteen hundred effective fighting men,
were posted in different parts of the town as a garrison, being
commanded by Colonel Sprague of the Sixty-third Ohio. About
noon on the 22d, the command was attacked by an overwhelming
force of infantry and cavalry, and the men being so scattered as to
render prompt co-operation impossible, successful resistance seemed
out of the question. The Thirty-fifth, however, promptly formed
and moved to the right and front to support a line of skirmishers,
who, as it reached the position designated, were already retiring in
confusion. But the men of the Thirty-fifth moved steadily into
line of battle, and at once opened on the rebels, checking them for
some minutes.  Soon, however, they advanced with added force.
and the regiment, vastly outnumbered, gradually fell back for a
distance of thirty yards, when it again turned and poured a deadly
volley into the ranks of the pursuers, causing them in turn to fall
back. But their repulse was but for a moment. Promptly rallied
by their officers, the rebels once more advanced, and although the
Thirty-fifth a third time turned upon them and held them for half
an hour, it was at last compelled to retire finally to the town,
Here the regiment was joined by the rest of the brigade, but the
enemy coming in on all sides, the entire command continued the
retreat, suffering severely from the fire of the pursuers-the casualties in the Thirty-fifth numbering one killed and sixteen wounded,
with a loss of two officers and thirty-seven men missing. The
picket line during the day was in charge of Lieutenant-Colonel
Henry, who displayed great coolness, but many of the men being
cut off, fell into the hands of the enemy. Among the captured
were Captain A. Dusenberry and Lieutenant David S. Oliphant.
On the 23d, the enemy having withdrawn, the Thirty-fifth reentered the town and intrenched, but on the day following moved
to the front, taking position in the rifle-pits in front of Atlanta. Here
the army was confronted by a strong line of rebel works, two miles




THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT.                655
from the city, and heavy fighting had already taken place at various
points in front of the position, resulting in a rebel loss of seven or
eight thousand men. Sherman, resorting again to strategy, on the
night of the 26th shifted one of his corps from our extreme left to
the extreme right, initiating a general movement to flank Hood
out of Atlanta by cutting the railroads in his rear. This movement, although detected by the enemy, was substantially accomnplished, and our men were hastily covering their new front with a
wide breastwork when, on the 28th, Hood poured out in strong
force on the west side of Atlanta, striking our right, held by Logan's
(Fifteenth) Corps, with great violence. The Thirty-fifth regiment
at this time, having the previous day driven in the rebel skirmishers, had taken position in the line to the left of the Fifteenth Corps;
but as the enemy, after a fierce cannonade, advanced on our right,
it was moved forward to the support of Smith's Brigade of the
corps assailed. The advance was made under a sharp fire from the
rebel guns, but the men, cheering lustily, moved steadily into position and soon became hotly engaged. The regiment being posted
in the edge of a woods and somewhat protected by a barricade of
logs and rails, had an advantage in position, and it improved it
fully. Seven distinct times the enemy advanced to the assault, and
as often was bloodily repulsed.  As the day waned, other regiments
came to the support of the Thirty-fifth, but they were not needed,
the position being held until the enemy, broken and vanquished,
finally withdrew, leaving his dead upon the field. In this engagement, the flag of the regiment was riddled with bullets and the State
standard was twice shot down but as many times replaced. The
loss of the command was very slight, only five men being wounded.
This was the last serious engagement in which the regiment participated in this campaign. On the 1st of August, the Thirty-fifth
advanced its position and took possession of a line of partially
completed rifle-pits, which it held until the 11th, meanwhile assisting in the construction of works at the front. On the 10th, a shell
from the enemy's guns exploded in the camp of the regiment, killing one and wounding six men, two of whom subsequently died.
On the 11th, being ordered on the skirmish line, the regiment drove




656               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
the enemy's pickets out of their pits and took possession, losing two
men wounded in the movement.  On the 25th, the regiment was
detailed to guard the train of the Sixteenth Corps, and continued
on this duty until September 8th. Atlanta meanwhile had been
evacuated, and our forces were in possession, so that, the arduous
work of the campaign having been completed, the  Thirty-fifth,
having reported for orders, was sent into camp  near East Pointhaving fairly earned, by gallantry in action and  endurance on the
march and in the trenches, the rest which it was now to enjoy.5
5 The following is the official report of this campaign, dated "Near East Point,
Georgia, September 11, 1864:"
" In compliance with orders from brigade headquarters, I herewith submit a report
of the part taken by this regiment in the campaign just brought to a close.
"On the 1st day of May, the regiment marched from Decatur, Alabama, to Woodville and thence by railroad to Chattanooga, Tennessee, whence it marched to Resaca,
Georgia, and on the 9th advanced on that town and about six o'clock, p. m., marched
to camp, where we arrived at ten o'clock, p. m., and on the 13th, 14th and 15th took
part in the engagement before that town, losing two men killed, two officers and
twenty men wounded and one missing.
" On the 16th we marched forward, and after several days marching arrived at Dallas
on the evening of the 27th, and was engaged with the enemy on the 28th. Captain
Charles A. Angel, in command of Companies E and I, advanced up the heights, and
after holding it a short time was compelled to retire. The regiment took part in the
line of skirmishers in all that occurred at Dallas, losing four men killed, eight wounded
and one missing.
" On June 5th, we were ordered to the flank and intrenched ourselves, building a
circular earthwork.
" On the 6th we were relieved and marched to Ackworth, from thence we marched
to Big Shanty and while on skirmish line on the 14th and 15th, lost seven men killed and
eight wounded. We then marched to Kenesaw mountain and took part in the movements at that place, losing thirteen men wounded.
" On the morning of July 2d marched from Kenesaw, and on the 4th of July, while
advancing on the enemy's works near Nickajack Creek, Captain and Acting Major
Charles A. Angel was killed, thus losing to the service a valuable and accomplished
officer. From thence we marched to the right, and on the 8th we marched to Marietta
and from thence to Chattahoochee river, which we forded on the 9th and intrenched
and rested for some days; we again marched, and on the 18th arrived at Decatur, and
marched to the front the next day. The day following we returned to Decatur, and on
the 22d took part in the engagement at that place. We lost one man killed and sixteen
wounded, two officers and thirty-seven men missing. Companies I and D being on
picket duty, were cut off and were nearly all captured.
"' On the 23d we re-entered the town and went to " Camp Conscript," where we intrenched.
" On the 24th we marched to the front of Atlanta and took position in rifle-pits, and
on the night of the 26th we were again on the march to the center, where we arrived
on the evening of the 27th, and after skirmishing with the enemy took position. We
lost on this occasion one man killed.
" On the 28th we were ordered to reinforce the Fifteenth Army Corps and arrived at
scene of action about two o'clock, p. m., and at once became hotly engaged with the




THE THIRTY-FIFTH  REGIMENT.                          657
During the month of October the Thirty-fifth participated in the
movement of a portion of the army to Marietta, Big Shanty and
other points menaced by the rebels under Hood, but was only once
actively engaged, namely, at Resaca, on the 15th, where the regiment lost twenty-five killed and wounded. During the month,
the regiment marched in all two hundred and twenty-one miles.
In the early part of November, Sherman concentrated his forces
around  Rome and  Kingston, Georgia, and  on  the  14th, having
completed all his plans, cut loose from his base, and set out on his
march to the sea. The Thirty-fifth, still attached to the Sixteenth
Corps, broke camp on the 15th, and during a considerable portion
of the  march  was employed  in  destroying  railroads, guarding
enemy, who advanced upon us some seven times and each time was repulsed, owing
no doubt to the fact that we were posted on the edge of the woods and intrenched
behind logs and rails. Our loss was very light, having but one officer and four men
wounded. After the fight we returned to our former encampment, and on the 1st of
August advanced our position and finished rifle-pits, which we found partially completed.
" On the night of the 8th we were ordered to the front to throw up works, and after
working all night, were relieved and returned to camp.
" On the 10th, a shell from the enemy exploded in our camp, killing one and wounding six men, two of whom have since died.
" On the 11th we were ordered on skirmish line, and also to advance the line, which
we did, driving the enemy's pickets out of their pits easily. We lost ten men wounded.
"On the 25th we marched out in charge of the Sixteenth Army Corps wagon trains
as guard. Owing to some mistake in orders, we found ourselves on the night of that
day entirely outside of our extreme right flank pickets, where we encamped with thirty
wagons. I caused trees to be felled forming an abattis, and extra pickets to be posted,
and otherwise taking all precautions that I deemed necessary to insure our safety.
"On the 26th, we retraced our steps and joined the main train with which we continued to do duty until relieved September 8th, on which day I reported to brigade
headquarters for duty.
" In conclusion, I would state that the conduct of the officers and men of this command has been all that could be desired. In the hour of danger and battle they always
have shown the most determined bravery and cheerful obedience to orders which is so
necessary to insure success.
"Of Colonel Cladek (now absent on duty) in command of the regiment through most
of the campaign, I must say that his good judgment, habits of discipline, cheerfnl
attention to the wants of those under his command and his cool, determined bravery on
the field of battle (thus giving a noble example to his officers and men), has proved
him to be an efficient and accomplished officer, of whom his officers and men will ever
feel proud.
Recapitulation: Killed, seventeen; wounded, eighty; missing, forty-one; one man
killed on the 11th of August, not in body of report.
" Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
" WILLIAM A. HENRY,
"Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding Regiment."
83




658           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
trains and foraging on the country-marching during the month
two hundred and eighty-two miles in all.  On the 2d of December
the command struck the railroad at Millen, formerly a rebel prison
camp, whence the prisoners had been removed on the approach of
our cavalry. On the 5th, the regiment was engaged as a support
to the cavalry advance, but suffered no casualties. On the 9tb,
the regiment again came up with the enemy, and being deployed
as skirmishers advanced over very difficult ground, driving the
rebels before them, and keeping up a running fight for a distance
of four miles-our men passing through two lines of the enemy's
works.  During the day, Corporal Williams was killed by a
torpedo, and three or four privates wounded. Only one member
of the regiment was wounded during the skirmish.  The road
being found to be planted with torpedoes, a number of the rebels
who were captured were compelled to dig them up, which they did
with some reluctance.  On the 10th, when within six miles of
Savannah, the regiment was again formed in line of battle in front
of the first line of the enemy's defensive works, but later in the
evening breastworks were thrown up, and the men permitted to
enjoy a brief rest.  On the 11th, firing was kept up all day
between the opposing forces, but the Thirty-fifth being moved to
the rear, did not participate therein.  On the 13th, Fort McAllister
on our left was taken, and Sherman having got up heavy guns
wherewith to bombard the city, on the 21st compelled its evacuation, our forces marching in on the following morning. While these
operations were in progress, the Thirty-fifth remained on picket
duty, but on the 3d of January, 1865," it moved through Savannah
to the Savannah River, where it embarked on the steamer S. R.
Spaulding and proceeded to Port Royal, whence, with other troops,
it was pushed forward to Pocotaligo.  At length, on the 1st of
February, the floods which had for a time impeded operations
having abated, the entire army again moved in a northerly direction. In this advance, the troops were obliged to wade swamps
several miles in width, often covered with water to the depth of
G During the month of December the regiment marched one hundred and nine miles.




THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT.                 659
three or four feet. In one case, the brigade to which the Thirtyfifth was attached, advanced through a deep morass, in the face of
a terrific fire, driving the enemy from his works-the men of the
Thirty-fifth being engaged during the fight in carrying ammunition
through the swamp to the troops, who in some places fought up to
their arm-pits in water.  On the 12th, the regiment reached and
passed through  the town of Orangeburg, and four days after
reached the city of Columbia, moving thence by way of Winnsboro to Cheraw, where it did provost duty for several days.  Still
moving forward, Fayetteville, North Carolina, was reached on the
11th of March, where a halt of two days was made. On the 13th,
the army again moved forward, a part advancing towards Averysboro, and the right wing marching towards Goldsboro.  The
Thirty-fifth, moving with the latter column, did not participate in
the fighting at Bentonville, where the Thirteenth Regiment rendered such important service, but was not idle, being employed in
guarding the wagon trains and caring for the sick and woundedColonel Cladek having command of the whole. Goldsboro being
reached, and the enemy having retreated on Raleigh, the army
again encamped, the men being reclothed and furnished other longneeded comforts.  The march from Savannah had been one of
great severity, and the suffering of the troops had been very great,
but they had submitted to all without complaint. From first to
last, the Thirty-fifth exhibited the hardiest endurance, with a corn
mendable readiness for any duty which might be imposed; and
its reputation was deservedly high throughout the entire corps to
which it belonged.
On the 3d of April, Captain Dusenberry, who had been taken
prisoner on the 22d of June, rejoined the regiment with one hundred and twelve substitutes, and was heartily welcomed by officers
and men.  On the 10th, Richmond having fallen, Sherman impelled
a determined advance against Johnston, who, with some forty thousand men, still remained near Smithfield. This town was entered
the following day, the enemy retreating to Raleigh, and thence
towards Greensboro. The news of Lee's surrender being received,
Johnston at once asked a suspension of hostilities, and this being




660           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
granted, negotiations were entered upon which, on the 26th, resulted
in the surrender of his army upon the terms already accorded to
Lee. The Thirty-fifth had fired its last gun in this grand contest
for national unity, and all that now remained was to march homeward, rich in the honors it had won.
On the 29th, the regiment moved out from its camp towards
Petersburg, which was reached May 8th.  Thence, passing through
Richmond, it marched by the usual route to Washington, arriving
in that vicinity on the 19th. Here the men were supplied with a
new Zouave uniform, and some weeks later being mustered out, proceeded to Trenton (July 22d), where their campaigns terminated in
a cordial welcome from the populace.




CHAPTER XXX.
THE   THIRTY-SIXTH    REGIMENT-(Third Cavalry).
The Thirty-sixth Regiment (or Third Cavalry) was recruited during the winter of 1863-4, and mustered into the United States service February  10, 1864, as the " First United States HIussars"-a
name, however, which was not long retained.' The regiment left
Trenton on the 29th  of March, one thousand  and  two  hundred
strong, marching by way of Philadelphia and Wilmington to Perryville, Maryland, where it embarked on steamers and proceeded
to Annapolis, being there attached to the Ninth Army Corps.  Here
it remained about a fortnight, when it marched to Alexandria, Virginia, whence on the 27th of April, it moved with the corps in the
direction of the field towards which Grant was preparing to advance.
Reaching a point three miles south of Bristow Station on the night
of the 29th, it was posted along the Orange and Alexandria Rail1 The original roster of the regiment was as follows:
Colonel, Andrew J. Morrison; Lieutenant-Colonel, Charles C. Suydam; Majors,
Siegfried Von Forstner, William P. Robeson, jr., S. V. C. Van Rensalaer; Adjutant,
William J. Starks; Quartermaster, John H. Bailey; Commissary, George Patten;
Surgeon, William W. Bowlby; Assistant Surgeons, Lawrence O. Morgan, Samuel A.
Phillips; Chaplain, John H. Frazee. CompaanyA-Captain, T. Malcolm Murphy; First
Lieutenant, John S. Hough; Second Lieutenant, John T. Tomlin. Company  — Captain, Albert S. Cloke; First Lieutenant, Alexander A. Yard; Second Lieutenant,,
Augustus C. Stickle.  Company C-Captain, John B. Hartman; First Lieutenant,
William  Lechleider; Second Lieutenant, William Reeves.  Company )D-Captain,
Michael Mitchell; First Lieutenant, James H. Donnelly; Second Lieutenant, George
R. Wadleigh. Company E-Captain, Daniel R. Boice; First Lieutenant, Daniel Buckley; Second Lieutenant, James O'Sullivan. Company F-Captain, Charles D.. Morrison; First Lieutenant, Henry A. Vanness; Second Lieutenant, Michael T. Dwyer.
Company G-Captain, Thomas R. McClong; First Lieutenant, William M. Scott; Second Lieutenant, Gilbert Tice. Company H —Captain, Ethan T. Harris; First Lieutenant,
Barnet Birdsell; Second Lieutenant, John Bamford.  Conpany I-Captain, Albert
Hertzberg; First Lieutenant, William Stulpnagel; Second Lieutenant, Oscar Kramer.
Company K-Captain, Frederick W. Schafer; First Lieutenant, Otto Siebeth; Second
Lieutenant, August Bulow. Conpany L-Captain, Frederick W. K. Knoblesdorf; First
Lieutenant, Emil Walpel; Second Lieutenant, Adolph Bulow. Company M —Captain,
John Stull; First Lieutenant, Henry S. Stull; Second Lieutenant, James V. Gibson.




662            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
road, where it remained, engaged in scouting and guard duty, until
the 5th of May, when, operations in the Wilderness having already
commenced, it marched southward, crossing the Rappahannock and
Rapidan, and bivouacking three miles beyond Germania Ford-on
a line parallel with the battle-front along which the conflict was
already fiercely raging. Later in the night, however, the regiment re-crossed the Rapidan, and encamped on a hill overlooking
the ford on the north side of the river-performing, on the 6th,
most important service by scouting that entire side of the Rapidan
for many miles in either direction. This duty, which was of the
most arduous character, having been performed to the satisfaction
of the General commanding, the regiment, on the afternoon of the
7th, was ordered to move as a rear-guard to a pontoon train about
to be transferred to a lower ford, and it accordingly marched to
Richmond's Ford (on the Rappahannock), and thence crossing at
United States Ford to Chancellorsville. Here it again found employment in patrolling, watching fords, and bearing despatches.
Two companies, under Captains Cloke and Boice, were detached from
the command, and nearly one hundred of the men were detailed for
duty as orderlies, some thirteen of whom were wounded at various
times, but none seriously.  On the 8th, when lying seven miles
from Fredericksburg, a rumor reaching camp that our wounded
who had been sent to that city were being arrested and sent off
towards Richmond by the rebel citizens, Major Robeson with
his battalion boldly dashed into the town, where, upon trustworthy
information, he arrested a number of the citizens and at once put
a stop to the proceedings complained of. On the following day
the town was again visited with a stronger force, it being designed
to arrest the Mayor, a notoriously odious secessionist; but that official had fled. Two noted scouts, however, were secured, and other
troops arriving, a provost marshal was appointed, and the necessary
public and private buildings promptly seized for the accommodation of the wounded, who now began to pour in by hundreds and
thousands. 
2 The writer of these pages reached Fredericksburg, as an agent of the Christian
Commission, on the 13th of May, 1864, and at that time there wi'e from eight thousand




THE THIRTY-SIXTH  RtGIMIENT,                      663
The enemy being gradually compelled to fall back before the operations of Grant, the Third Cavalry pushed forward with its brigadeThird Brigade, First Division, Cavalry Corps-sharing in the operations at Ashland, Old Church, and other points, and showing the
highest soldierly qualities in all the combats in which it participated.
Reaching the vicinity of City Point early in June, it was placed in
position on the extreme left of the army, and for over a month
was engaged in picketing, losing during the time two officers and
ten privates by capture. Up to the middle of July, the total losses
of the regiment in  killed, wounded  and  missing, amounted  to
seventy-six. On July 16th, the command was transferred to Lighthouse Point, whence, on the 25th, it returned to its old position,
where, on the 27th, it lost several men from guerillas while on
picket-one being killed, two wounded and two captured.  The
men were ambuscaded while patrolling, and were all shot from
behind, some of them  being  stripped  of all their clothing  and
effects, and exposed to every possible indignity.
On the 5th of August, General Grant having  determined to
transfer two cavalry divisions to the Shenandoah Valley, to assist
in checking the rebel operations in that quarter, the Third Jerseynow  attached to the First Brigade, Third Cavalry Division-left
its position in front of Petersburg and proceeded to Washington,
whence-the men, numbering over four hundred, being supplied
with new Spencer repeating carbines-it marched on the 12th in
the direction of Winchester, which place it reached on the 17th,
just in time to participate in an engagement with the enemy, who
was vigorously pressing Sheridan's troops as they fell back towards
Harper's Ferry.  The Third Regiment was at once ordered to a
to nine thousand wounded accumulated in the town. Every church, store and other
commodious building was occupied, and even the yards attached to private residences
were in some cases crowded with the sufferers. The Surgeons established their amputating tables in the basements of some of the churches, and there, for days and weeks
the knife and saw did their ghastly work. Here and there, as we passed along the
streets, rows of dead were found lying in dilapidated outhouses, and night and day,
stretchers with dead and dying drifted to and fro along the streets. Among the first
persons we met on reaching Fredericksburg were the Lieutenant-Colonel and Surgeon
of the Third Cavalry, which regiment, as we have seen, was the first to enter the town
and initiate measures for bringing order out of chaos.




664             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
hill south of the town, to act as support to a battery, and soon
became hotly engaged, the first battalion, under Major Robeson,
being sent out as skirmishers on the right. The fight growing
earnest, the third battalion. under Major Alstrom, was sent in to
relieve the first, the remainder of the men (Companies A, B C and
D) being soon after thrown in, dismounted, on the left, led by
Lieutenant-Colonel Suydam.  The position held by the command
was a critical one; occupying the advanced skirmish line, most of
the heavy fighting fell to its share, but the men for the most part
carried themselves with great gallantry, repelling desperate assaults,
and only falling back, long after dark, when surrounded by an
overwhelming force of the enemy, including some of Breckenridge's veteran troops.  So impetuous was the final charge of the
rebels, that for a time the assailed and assailants were mingled promiscuously, and the Jerseymen were obliged to suspend firing, lest
they should injure their friends." The conduct of LieutenantColonel Suydam, who led the reserve at a critical moment, and
stubbornly resisted the rebel onslaught, taking up three positions
during the fight, as well as of Majors Robeson and Alstrom, was
especially commended as cool and courageous in the last degree.
The total loss of the regiment was one hundred and thirty men,
the killed including one Captain and one Lieutenant."
After this engagement the command fell back, with the rest of
the troops, on the 18th, to Summit Point. On the 21st, while on
picket, it was again attacked by  Breckenridge's Corps, which,
advancing in strong force, struck the line front, right and left,
sweeping it back to the regimental skirmish line. For three hours
the latter steadily bore the pressure, gradually falling back until,
the wagon trains having been safely forwarded, the worn and jaded
men fell within the supporting lines of the Second Brigade, and
the whole column continued its march to Charlestown.  Here it lay
3 At one time, so close were the combatants, that Lieutenant-Colonel Suydam, seeing
a rebel capture and lead off one of our men, coolly seized a "grayback" and marched
him to the rear, by way of exchange.
4 One report puts the casualties at three killed, nine wounded and forty-eight missing, but we give the figures as recorded in the diary of the commanding officer.




THE THIRTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.                   665
in comparative quiet until the next morning, when the enemy
opened along the lines with great energy, and the division fell back
to Harper's Ferry, where, with ample infantry supports, it escaped
further molestation. In these operations, the Third Jersey lost six
killed, twenty-five wounded and fourteen missing.  After falling
back, the regiment was allowed two days to recruit, when, on the
morning of the 25th, with the rest of the brigade, under General
McIntosh, it again moved out, going westerly.  After marching a
few miles, it was joined by the entire cavalry force, and the whole
moved cautiously forward.  About ten o'clock, the Third Jersey
was called upon for scouting parties, and these, deploying into the
woods, soon discovered the enemy in force.  The action which
ensued was a spirited and stubborn one.  The enemy lay in the
rear of a piece of woods, strongly covered by a stone wall, and
although at one time driven a little by our troopers, the latter,
being without infantry supports, could not dislodge him from his
position.  Meanwhile, other regiments of the brigade had become
engaged, but without any favorable result, and it being apparent
that the enemy was in strong force, a general withdrawal was
ordered, being effected in good order.  In this engagement, as in
many others, General McIntosh displayed the greatest gallantry, and
the men of the Third Jersey fought with their accustomed bravery.
The loss of the regiment in wounded and missing was thirty men.
After falling back to Harper's Ferry, at ten o'clock the same
night the command crossed the Potomac, and marched to Boonsboro, Maryland, whence, after a night's rest, it moved in an irregular circle, passing the field of Antietam, and recrossing the Potomac
at Shepherdstown Ford, finally reaching Charlestown on the night
of the 28th.  Iere almost constant skirmishing was kept up with
the enemy, but no serious fighting was had.  Sheridan was maturing
his plans for a vigorous campaign against the enemy; and until he
was ready to strike, the cavalry troopers were not called to any
severe combat. But the season of comparative repose was brief.
On the evening of the 12th (of September), General Mcintosh
received an order to take his brigade at an early hour the next
morning and reconnoiter on the Berryville and Winchester pike,
84




666            NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
to discover, if possible, the strength and position of the enemy,
but to go only so far as to meet the enemy's infantry, when he was
to retire. Accordingly, on the morning of the 13th, the Second
Ohio Cavalry was thrown out as advance guard and skirmishers,
the Third Jersey, now  and for some time after commanded by
Lieutenant-Colonel Suydam, coming next in line, and the whole
advancing on the road designated.  The Jerseymen first met the
enemy's cavalry pickets about three miles out of Berryville, and
from this time on kept up a running fire for two miles, charging
them whenever they attempted to make a stand, until finally they
were driven across the Opequan.  Here they endeavored to rally,
but having become badly demoralized, the Ohioans and Jersevmen
pushed right forward, charging across and up the hill against their
barricade of rails (which had evidently been hastily thrown up),
driving and checking them in all directions.  Still pursuing, giving
them no time to rest, the regiment forced them finally inside of
their infantry supports. A halt was now ordered, while General
McIntosh advanced to the top of a hill and examined the rebel
position.  Presently, an order came for a squadron of the Third
Jersey to charge up the road, and on the instant, a column dashed
forward, sweeping up with flashing sabers right into the midst of
the enemy, one hundred  and forty-three of whom  were taken
prisoners. This, however, was not the only result of the charge.
A whole regiment of South Carolina infantry (the Eighth), cut off
from their main body by the exploit of the Jerseymen, were sur.
rounded and captured, with their colors and battle-flag, by the
Second  Ohio and Third Jersey.5  By this time, the enemy was
The Chaplain of the regiment, Rev. J. H. Frazee, in a letter to the Newark Ade-citiser, says of this affair:
"The result of our charge was the capture of the Eighth Carolina Regiment, with
its Colonel and all its line officers, numbering eighteen. The companies composing
the squadron that made the charge were Company G, commanded by Captain Thomas
R. McClong, of Cumberland County, and Company F, recruited in Newark, and under
the command of First Lieutenant M. T. Dwyer, of the same city. Lieutenant-Colonel
Suydam, with the remaining battalions of the regiment, moved promptly to our support when we made the charge. The accompanying congratulatory order was issued
by Brigadier-General Wilson:
"HIEADQUAR1TERS THIRD CAVALRY DIVISION-, 
September 15, 1864. 
" General Order NVo. 40.
"'The Brigadier-General commanding takes great pleasure in commending the dash,




THE THIRTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.                      667
seen marching down with heavy columns of infantry, showing that
he was still in force, and McIntosh, having accomplished the object
for which he was sent out, accordingly ordered a retreat, which
was accomplished in a safe and orderly manner. The affair, which
was a brilliant one throughout, was conducted very expeditiously,
the brigade reaching its camp in less than five hours from the time
it left it. The loss of the regiment was one killed, and of the
brigade three killed and one hundred and one missing.
After this affair, the regiment lay quiet until the 19th (one of the
remarkable days of the war), when at two o'clock in the morning,
it moved out on the Winchester pike, driving the enemy's cavalry,
and charging and turning the right of his infantry.  After getting
into position, the command was held in hand until late in the afternoon, when, the enemy being in retreat, it charged down the pike,
sweeping past Winchester and reaching Karneystown.  I-ere it suffered sonle loss, but not sufficient to disturb the elation over the
grand achievements of the day. Subsequently the regiment moved
up the Valley past Stony Point, across the Shenandoah, through
Front Royal and up the Luray Valley, through which it endeavored to effect a passage, but without success, owing to the opposition of the enemy.  On the 21st, it was again engaged at Front
Royal, losing some men.  On the 28th, being in the cavalry advance, it once more encountered the enemy at Waynesboro where
it suffered a loss of ten men killed and wounded, but fought with
its accustomed gallantry.  In the retrograde movement which followed this advance of our forces-a movement designed to draw
the enemy once more within effective striking distance-the Third
Jersey once more proved its efficiency at Bridgewater, October 2d,
losing nine men; at Brock's Gap on the 6th, and at Tom's Brook,
gallantry and good conduct of the First Brigade, as well as the judicious management
and promptitude of its commander, Brigadier-General McIntosh, in the recent affair on
the Berryville and Winchester pike. The charge of the squadron of the Third New
Jersey Cavalry, which resulted in breaking the rebel infantry line, is especially worthy
of mention; it effectually opened the way for surrounding and capturing the rebel
regiment encountered. * * * -
"By command of                            Brigadier-General WILSON.' 
The Eighth Carolina Regiment, captured in this affair, was one of the oldest in the
rebel service, and had never before suffered any serious mishaps.




668           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
where, on the 9th, it had a severe engagement with the now pursuing foe. Its loss in this last affair was eight men. Finally reaching Cedar Creek, it went on picket, where it remained until the
13th, when it had a sharp fight at Cupp's Mills, losing ten men.
In the memorable battle of the 19th, described in the narrative of
the First Brigade, the regiment was early placed in position, but was
only moderately engaged.  In the subsequent operations in the
Valley, it had an honorable part, being engaged on the " Back
Road," on November 12th, and at Mount Jackson, November 22d.
At the latter point, the enemy occupied a very strong position on
Hond's Hill, and it was found to be impossible, after considerable
skirmishing, to dislodge him. In withdrawing from the field, the
Third Jersey covered the Second New York Regiment.  The loss
of the command in this affair was ten men killed and wounded.6
On the 28th, the enemy having attacked and carried our position,
held by a small garrison, at New Creek, on the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad, twenty-two miles west of Cumberland, the Jersey
regiment was dispatched on an expedition in that direction, proceeding to Moorefield, Hardy County, West Virginia, where a day
was spent in exploring the country and discovering the position of
the enemy-after which it returned to its camp below Winchesterthe march being one of great difficulty and suffering to the exhausted men.
There being now a lull in operations, the regiment went into
winter quarters, where it remained until ordered to rejoin the army
in front of Petersburg. Iere it was variously employed until the
last grand assault upon the enemy, when, at Five Forks, fighting
again with the scarred veterans who had swept Early clean out of
the Shenandoah, it displayed conspicuous gallantry, sharing in all
the perils as well as the splendid achievements of that memorable and glorious day, on which the power of the rebellion was
finally and forever broken. The loss of the regiment was only
eight wounded, including Lieutenant-Colonel Robeson.  Joining in
the pursuit of the flying foe, on the 6th it had two officers wounded
" About this time, Major Robeson was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment.




THE THIRTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.                  669
in a skirmish, but was not again heavily engaged. In due time,
Lee having surrendered and the rebel armies dissolved, it proceeded
to Washington, and thence to Trenton, where it was mustered out.
The Third Jersey deserved a far higher place in the estimation
of the people of the State than it enjoyed while in the field.  Unfortunate in its commandant, when first entering the service, it was
ever after, with singular injustice, judged in the light of this fact;
no adequate allowance being made for its subsequent improvement
in efficiency and discipline. No regiment was ever more efficiently
officered than this after the suspension of the original Colonel, and
none ever more rapidly achieved a high reputation than did this
command when once brought face to face with the foe. In the
Shenandoah, it participated in some thirteen engagements, in all of
which it showed the finest soldierly qualities, winning the special
commendation of its commanders, as well as the confidence of all
its comrades of the cavalry corps; and in the story of the war,
when fairly and fully written, its deeds will have a place side by
side with those of the bravest and best of that invincible army
which Sheridan led always to victory.




CHAPTER XXXI.
THE  THIRTY-SEVENTH  REGIMENT.
ON the 16th of May, 1864, Governor Parker issued a proclamation calling, "by desire of the President," the militia of the State
into active service, for the period of one hundred days, to date from
muster into the United States Service, to be armed, equipped, and
paid as other United States Volunteers, " to serve in fortifications
or wherever their services may be required, within or without the
State."  No bounty was to be given, nor even their services to be
credited upon any draft. These troops were to be infantry exclusively, and the Governor urged that at least five regiments might
be raised and forwarded with all convenient speed. In accordance
with this proclamation, recruiting began without delay, and the
nuclei of two regiments were speedily established-one in the southern part of the State to be called the Thirty-seventh, and another
at Camp Frelinghuysen, near Newark, to be called the Thirty-eighth
Regiment-the latter to be commanded by John S. Barlow, and the
former by E. Burd Grubb, of Burlington, a gallant and dashing
soldier of whom honorable mention is made elsewhere in this volume. It was thought advisable and hoped that the different Militia and Rifle Corps regiments should, if possible, embrace this
opportunity to go into the movement, rank and file, in a body;
thus preserving their regimental organizations and preventing the
many delays incident to and consequent upon the organization and
officering of new regiments.  This expectation, however, was not
realized. Recruiting becoming languid, local bounties were offered
by different cities, but notwithstanding this, and every other inducement offered, it began to be apparent that neither of the two regiments would be enabled to fill its ranks, and consolidation must be
effected.  This was accordingly done at Camp Delaware, Trenton)




THE THIRTY-SEVENTH  REGIMENT.                         671
and, on the 23d of June the consolidated regiment, under the name
of the Thirty-seventh New Jersey Volunteers, was mustered into the
service of the United States. The following were the officers:
Colonel, E. Burd Grubb; Lieutenant-Colonel, John S. Barlow; Major, John Danforth; Quartermaster, J. W. Kinsey; Surgeon, Henry C. Clark; Assistant Surgeons,
M. Robinson and E. P. Hancock; Adjutant, Parker Grubb. Cornpany A-Captain,
Roderick B. Seymour; First Lieutenant, C. Holt; Second Lieutenant, William Muirheid.  Company B-Captain, D. J. Pierman; First Lieutenant, H. H. Walters; Second
Lieutenant, Theodore Douglass.  Company C-Captain, James Withington; First
Lieutenant, Peter Wilkes; Second Lieutenant, John Farrell. Conpany D-Captain,
M. Devinney; First Lieutenant, C. Goldenburg; Second Lieutenant, M. C. Stafford.
Company E-Captain, W. F. Riker; First Lieutenant, John Kelt; Second Lieutenant,
L. C. Grover, Jr. Company F~-Captain, N. N. Hancock; First Lieutenant, J. Schreiner; Second Lieutenant, T. P. Munn. Company G —Captain, G. Eggers; First Lieutenant, J. T. Crane; Second Lieutenant, J. Kraus. CoCmpany f —Captain, G. Smith;
First Lieutenant, J. Maguire; Second Lieutenant, W. H. Stiles. Company I-Captain,
L. A. Rites; First Lieutenant, I. C. Woodward; Second Lieutenant, N. H. Johnson.'
The regiment left Trenton on the 28th of June, seven hundred
strong, direct for Baltimore, where steamer was taken for City
Point.  Upon reporting to General Grant, the regiment was ordered
to report to General Butler, at Bermuda Hundred.  Landing at
Point of Rocks, July 1st, they went into  camp about three miles
from  that landing.  Here the regiment furnished detachments for
fatigue duty of various kinds, such as unloading vessels, working
on  fortifications, &c., being  assigned  to  Berry's Brigade, Third
Division, Tenth  Army  Corps  (General Q. A. Gilmore's), and
brigaded with other one hundred days' regiments from Ohio. From
this last camp, the regiment was ordered to Redoubt Converse, on
Spring Hill, near the Appomattox River, where, for another month,
the regiment was scattered-one detachment at Broadway Landing,
loading and unloading vessels; another at Corps Headquarters,
The personnel of the regiment was not altogether encouraging,. The medical examination was by no means searching, and as a result there were many with only one eye;
several with less fingers than the regulations allowed; a few, long since past the age at
which military service terminates; and scores of mere boys from fifteen years of age
upwards. As a detachment. were working in the woods, near Bermuda Hundred. severel huge Vermonters passing by, stopped; and, after looking at the youthful faces
with some amazement as well as amusement, inquired who they were, to which the
response was given, "Thirty-seventh New Jersey."  "Oh!" said the questioner, "I
thought it was some school-house broke loose"-to the disgust and mortification of the
"boys."  It was found, however, that these mere striplings were quite as serviceable
as any in the regiment. They endured longer and harder work, felt less fatigue on the
march and at "fatigue duty," and took to their various duties as soldiers as well, if not
better, than the older, stronger and apparently more able men.




672              NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
doing duty in the ambulance corps; another at Point of Rocks, in
charge of a commissary station; a fourth doing picket duty, and
the remainder garrisoning the fort.  While in this fort, occurred, on
the 11th  of August, the death of the Adcjutant, Parker Grubb,
from  malarious fever, and  September 12th, that of LieutenantColonel Barlow, from  consumption.  William  MIuirheid was afterwards promoted to the position  of Adjutant, and Major Danforth
to be Lieutenant-Colonel.  At length, August 28th, the regiment
was again gathered together, and marched  to  the extreme front at
Petersburg, being brigaded with  the Twenty-second United States
colored troops and the Eighth United States colored troops, under
the command of Colonel J. B. Kiddoo, of the former regiment.
Here the command  encamped in the rear of the  " Hare House
Battery," so called from the ruins of "Hare House," near by.   [This
was formerly a fashionable place of resort for the elite of Richmond
and Petersburg.] The regiment remained here until their term of
service had nearly expired, doing duty  in  the trenches in  "the
front," and contributing their quota to the fatigue parties working
on the fortifications in that vicinity. On the 25th of September,
the Tenth Corps retired from the front, being relieved by the
Second Corps, and  moved towards Deep Bottom, to take part in
the movement upon Chapin's Bluff, which took place a short time
afterwards. The same day, the following highly flattering general
order was promulgated:
"HEADQUARTERS TENTH AtRMY CORPS, ARM.Y OF TIIE JAMES, I
BEFORE PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA, September 25, 1864.    \
" General Order SJo. 34.
" The Thirty-seventh New Jersey Volunteers, on the 26th instant will leave for Trenton, New Jersey, reporting to the Superintendent of Recruiting Service of the State,
to be mustered out of service, at the expiration of its enlistment.
"The Major-General commanding cannot part with this regiment of one hundred
days' men without expressing his gratification and satisfaction with their conduct.
They have endured fatigue, encountered the rebel foe like good soldiers, and have
gained the esteem of the veterans of this corps.
"He is confident that, when they return to New Jersey, a State that has furnished
such soldiers as Kearney, Mott and Torbert, they will continue to sustain the veterans
they have left at the front, doing what Sherman advised, " fighting this out like men."
"The Major-General commanding will be pleased to assist the commanding officer
of this regiment in re-organizing it to aid in the finale of the rebellion in conjunction
with this corps.
"The Quartermaster's Department will furnish transportation.
"By command of                                Major-General D. B. BIRNEY.
"EDWARD W. SMITH, Assistant Adjutant-General.




THE THIRTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT.                673
It was an unusual occurrence for the commandant of a corps to
issue a general order so complimentary in its tone, upon the muster
out of a single regiment which had done nothing more than this
one had to distinguish itself. But, remembering that this was a
perfectly raw regiment-composed of men of all ages and degrees
of imperfection, and in no small degree of mere boys-that it
arrived, in three days after leaving its camp at Trenton, within the
range of rebel cannon, and there remained antil its return homethe men going into the "glory holes" in the immediate front at
Petersburg, and there doing their duty like veterans —with very
few opportunities for drill or improvement —it is not remarkable
that the Major-General commanding the corps should deem them
worthy of the compliment which he bestowed upon them.  The
regiment was engaged in no battles, but, in the dangerous duty of
the trenches and rifle-pits, five were killed and twenty-nine
wounded.  In addition, there were thirteen other deaths, mostly
from typhoid fever.  Thirty-two were left in hospital, sick, and
twenty-seven re-enlisted and remained behind. The regiment was
mustered out on the 1st of October, 1864. Many of the officers
and men afterwards re-enlisted in the volunteer and regular service.
Some were killed in the last hours of the rebellion, in Virginia
and Texas, and some in Indian fights, on the Plains.
85




CHAPTER XXXII.
THE  THIRTY-EIGHTH  REGIMENT.
THE Thirty-eighth Regiment was raised in the summer and fall
of 1864', Colonel William  J. Sewell accepting its command on the
30th of September, and completing its organization in fifteen days
thereafter. Colonel Sewell had served with distinguished credit in
the Second Brigade, but had been compelled to quit the service
during  the Wilderness campaign, owing to prostration resulting
from exposure. Partially recovering, however, and with his patriotic ardor unabated, he gladly embraced the opportunity  afforded
by the formation of the Thirty-eighth to return to the field, employing all his energies to make it an organization worthy of the State.
Upon leaving the State, the regiment was ordered to City Point and
thence to Bermuda Hundred, whence it was sent to Fort Powhatan,
on the James river, some fifteen miles below City Point. The
troops at this point consisted of the Thirty-eighth, a squadron of
The original roster of the regiment was as follows:
Colonel, William J. Sewell; Lieutenant Colonel, Ashbel W. Angel; Major, William
H. Tantum; Adjutant, Edwin G. Smith; Quartermaster, Israel Wells; Surgeon, Richard Thomas, Jr.; Assistant Surgeons, Israel Hart, William S. Combs; Chaplain,
Charles R. Hartranft. Company A-Captain, Thomas J. Swannell; First Lieutenant,
Joseph E. Jones; Second Lieutenant, John Grant. Comparny B-Captain, George W.
Day; First Lieutenant, Charles W. Kitchen; Second Lieutenant, Henry Dubs. Company C-Captain, Henry S. Spaulding; First Lieutenant, L. Clinton McMahon; Second Lieutenant, William D. Jackson. Conmpany D-Captain, Jacob D. Wilson; First
Lieutenant, John N. Cottrell; Second Lieutenant, Joseph T. Hayes. Company i —Captain, William W. Abbott; First Lieutenant, William M. Craft; Second Lieutenant,
Green Vanderbilt.  Company F-Captain, George Gilson; First Lieutenant, Andrew
Brown; Second Lieutenant, John N. Anderson.  Company G-Captain, James B.
Minturn; First Lieutenant, Luzerne Bartholomew; Second Lieutenant, Sylvester J.
Shuck. Company 1 —Captain, Abraham M. Browning; First Lieutenant, Daniel P.
Yates; Second Lieutenant, Joseph N. Stanford.  Company I-Captain, George W.
Cubberly; First Lieutenant, John Worthley; Second Lieutenant, George B. Bergen.
Campany K-Captain, Thomas Cunningham; First Lieutenant, Albert E. Hand; Second Lieutenant, Isaac Wooliver,




THE THIRTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT.                675
cavalry and a battery of artillery-the duty consisting in keeping
open the river and protecting a line of land telegraph for a distance of
some forty miles.. In the performance of this duty, skirmishes with
guerillas were of frequent occurrence, but no general engagement
was brought on. The regiment remained at this point until the
surrender of Lee, when it was ordered to City Point, whence it was
mustered out. reaching Trenton on the 4th of July, 1865.
Though never called upon to grapple in stern encounter with
the foe, or to face the deadly perils of the field, the Thirty-eighth
faithfully performed all the duties laid upon it in more peaceful
spheres, and, doubtless, had occasion offered, would have acquitted
itself in actual combat with the same efficiency and courage as more
famous commands.




CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE THIRTY-NINTH  REGIMENT.
THE Thirty-ninth Regiment, recruited under the call of July
1864, for five hundred thousand men, left Newark early in October
of the same year-five companies leaving  on  the  4th, and the
others  a  few  days subsequently.'   Arriving  at City  Point, it
was temporarily  employed  on the  breastworks, moving thence
to Poplar Grove Church, on the  left of the  W\eldon  Railroad,
a few  miles south  of Petersburg, where it was attached to the
First Brigade, Second  Division, Ninth  Army  Corps.    While
here, it participated with the brigade in the expedition against
the Southside Railroad, but was not actually engaged.  Returning
to camp, it remained until the last day of November, when, the
corps relieving the Second, then holding the center of our line,
1 The original roster of the regiment was as follows:
Colonel, Abram C. Wildrick; Lieutenant-Colonel, James H. Close; Major, William D.
Cornish; Adjutant, George S. Smith; Quartermaster, Corra Drake; Surgeon, George
R. Sullivan; Assistant Surgeon, George W. Douglass; Chaplain, Edward D. Crane
Company A-Captain, Herman Reutter; First Lieutenant, Sedgwick R. Bennett; Second Lieutenant, Charles Sidel. Company B-Captain, Charles Bruere; Lirst Lieutenant, William H. Ogden; Second Lieutenant, Sigmond Gnam. Company C —Captain,
Edwin W. Hedges; First Lieutenant, Joseph H. Jenkins; Second Lieutenant, Albert
R. Marsh. Company D)-Captain, Fowler Merrill; First Lieutenant, Charles C. McCoy; Second Lieutenant, Alasco C. White. Company E-Captain, Peter F. Rogers;
First Lieutenant, Henry M. Heinold; Second Lieutenant, John J. Sloate. Company
— Captain, John Hunkele; First Lieutenant, William H. Behrens; Second Lieutenant, Charles Sange. Company G-Captain, James Peters; First Lieutenant, Henry
Reynolds; Second Lieutenant, Charles Marsh.  Company f —Captain, George W.
Harrison; First Lieutenant, Joseph W. Nason; Second Lieutenant, Peter Clute. Cornpany I-Captain, Gustavus Dupins; First Lieutenant, Richard M. Johnston; Second
Lieutenant, Andrew J. McManus. Company K-Captain, David S. Allen; First Lieutenant, Jacob McConnell; Second Lieutenant, John Shippee.
Colonel Wildrick had been an officer in the Regular Army, and was peculiarly qualified for the position of commandant. From first to last, his record was that of a
thorough soldier, and the efficiency of the regiment when finally brought to the test,
was in a very large degree owing to the influence of his example and careful teaching.




THE THIRTY-NINTH REGIMENT.                 677
the Thirty-ninth moved into position before Petersburg, sending
one hundred men on picket on the first night of its arrival. On
the day following, the command went into open camp in the rear
of Fort Sedgwick, and here it remained until the middle of February. It was then placed in Fort Davis, which it garrisoned until
the night preceding the 2d of April.
On that night, most memorable of all in the history of the rebellion, the Thirty-ninth was moved out at eleven o'clock and placed
in the rear of the picket-line, where it was held until the hour
designated for the assault upon the enemy's works. Opposite Fort
Davis the enemy held Fort Mahone, with a picket-line in front.
This fort the Jerseymen were directed to assault, and at four o'clock,
moved forward to their work. Capturing and sweeping away the
opposing picket, they pressed up to the fort, some perishing in the
ditch as they essayed to cross, but the body of the command reaching the works, heedless of the pitiless fire to which they were exposed. The Color-Sergeant, James Jarvis, mounting the parapet,
planted the colors in the face of the foe, and though subjected to a
storm of bullets, held his position bravely until wounded in the
arm, when with forty-three bullets in the flag and the staff broken,
he was compelled to withdraw.  Twice the gallant regiment, fighting desperately, entered the works, only to be driven out, owing
to the failure of its supports; but a third time it forced its way into
the works, and was not again expelled, holding the position with a
tenacity which defied all attempts to dislodge it. The fighting
from first to last was of the most stubborn and murderous character.  At one time, the rebels made a desperate effort to break
through our line with a view of turning our right, throwing all
their spare troops on that part of the line, and compelling our
troops to recede a short distance. But their advantage was only
temporary, and for hours the fight went on, the enemy receiving
reinforcements, but each fresh assault being repulsed, until at last
the day was at all points ours. The loss of the Thirty-ninth, to
which belongs the credit of capturing one of the most formidable
rebel works around Petersburg, was very severe, amounting to
some ten killed and about seventy-five wounded, several officers




678             NEW  JERSEY AID THE REBELLION.
being included among the latter.  Captain George AV. Harrison,
of Company I, who had previously served in the Twenty-sixth
Regiment, and was highly esteemed, together with Lieutenant
Nason, of the same company, a fearless and efficient officer, were
among the killed.  The first man wounded was Captain Allen, of
Company K.
The army of Lee having been driven from  its stronhold, the
Thirty-ninth joined  in the pursuit, but was not again actively
engaged. Its last important service was the performance of provost
duty, for some two weeks, at Farmville.  After the rebel surrender, it proceeded to Alexandria, where it remained in camp until
June, when it was ordered to Newark and finally disbanded.  It
had performed well and faithfully all the duties to which it was
assigned, and the greeting extended to it upon its return was neither
more cordial nor general than it deserved.
2 A person who witnessed this engagement, writes: " The fire which rained on the
ground and around the fort was of the most fearful character, and to stand and see
our men advance on a run through the very thickest of it, many of them being torn
to pieces and lost to sight before they crossed half the distance, was a sight not soon
to be forgotten."




CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE FORTIETH  REGIMENT.
THE  Fortieth  Regiment was organized  under the immediate
superintendence of Colonel Stephen R. Gilkyson, under General
Orders No. 243 (series 1864) of the War Department, and forwarded
to the field by companies, the last company being mustered in on
the 10th of March, 1865.'   Upon reaching the field, the companies
were attached to the First Brigade, the regiment proving courageous
and efficient in all the engagements in which it participated.  In
the last fight before Richmond it displayed conspicuous gallantry.
the men fighting with the steadiness of veterans. Its record here
is brief, since its term of service covered only the latter period of
the war; but, in the estimation of Jerseymen, it deserves a place
among the best and worthiest of our regiments.
1 The original roster of the regiment was as follows:
Colonel, Stephen R. Gilkyson; Lieutenant Colonel, Samuel J. Hopkins; Major, J.
Augustus Fay, Jr.; Adjutant, George W. Breen; Quartermaster, J. Warren Kinsey;
Surgeon, Charles E. Hall; Assistant Surgeons, Harmon Heed, Elias Wildman. Company A-Captain, John Edlestein; First Lieutenant, Charles A. Galluba; Second
Lieutenant, Gustavus L. Freche. Conpany — Captain, Samuel W. Down; First Lieutenant, Jonathan Maguire; Second Lieutenant, Edwin Hedden. Company C —Captain, George Eggers; First Lieutenant, Henry C. Woodward; Second Lieutenant,
Joseph F. Mount. Company D-Captain, Maurice C. Stafford; First Lieutenant, Harrison Shaff; Second Lieutenant, Samuel Phillips. Company E-Captain, Joseph A.
Schnetzcr; First Lieutenant, George W. Breen; Second Lieutenant, James Phillips.
Company F-Captain, Charles E. Grant; First Lieutenant, Chauncey Holt; Second
Lieutenant, T. Fletcher Jacobs.  Company G-Captain, Elwood Lippincott; First
Lieutenant, John B. Lyman; Second Lieutenant, John M. Peters. Company J —Captain, Andrew J. Mandeville; First Lieutenant, Samuel W. Downs; Second Lieutenant,
George A. Beldin. CompanyJ I-Captain, Ezra Stewart; First Lieutenant, William H.
Stiles; Second Lieutenant, Stephen H. Marsh. Company K —Captain, John W. Goodenough; First Lieutenant, Walker A. Newton; Second Lieutenant, Peter Rudranff.




CHAPTER XXXV.
BATTERY  A-(First Artillery).
BATTERY A, First New Jersey Artillery, Captain William Hexamer, was mustered into service August 12, 1861, at Hoboken,
which place it left eight days after for Washington.  Captain Hexamer had for months impatiently awaited an opportunity to enter
the service, and only failed to reach the field with our first contingent, because of the indisposition of the Government to accept of
volunteer artillery.  Whether it was supposed that this arm of the
service was already sufficiently strong, we cannot tell; but it is
certain that so far as New Jersey was concerned, it was found for
a time altogether impossible to secure the acceptance of artillery
organizations.  Many men, having encountered the rebuffs to which
Captain Hexamer was exposed, would have abandoned the effort
to obtain recognition as utterly useless; but he was not to be so
shaken off; pertinacious, earnest and animated by a sturdy and
invincible patriotism, he pursued his purpose with ceaseless and
importunate determination, and at length, as we have seen, achieved
success —being mustered in as a participant in the grand struggle
for the vindication of the flag he loved.  Reaching Washington on
the 21st of August, the battery, after being filled up and supplied
with the necessary horses, equipments and arms, proceeded (September 6th) to Fairfax Seminary, where it was attached to Kearney's Brigade.  The battery at this time numbered one hundred
and fifty-one men and five officers-one Captain, two First Lieutenants and two Second Lieutenants.  At a later period, the number
of men was increased to one hundred and sixty-four, several being
transferred to the battery from the First Regiment of Infantry.
The first battle in which the battery was engaged was that of
West Point, on the 7th of May, 1862, where it displayed great




BATTERY A-(FIRST ARTILLERY).               681
gallantry, winning the highest encomiums. The official report of
the engagement shows that at nine o'clock on the day named, Captain Hexamer, under orders from General Newton, placed the left
section (howitzers) of his battery in position opposite the woods
near the landing-the right and center sections being soon after
placed on the right of the line of battle formed by Franklin's
Division.   Vhat followed is thus told in the report: " Skirmishing between our troops and the enemy had already commenced in
the woods directly in front when I reached the designated ground.
General Newton ordered me not to begin firing until the enemy
should show himself outside the woods, which was done at twelve
o'clock by the Fifth Alabama Regiment, who fired on my battery
with rifles, wounding some of my men. I then opened fire with
my ten-pounder Parrotts, and threw spherical case into the lines of
the enemy, causing the retreat of the Alabama troops. I then
commenced shelling the woods in the direction where I knew the
enemy to be located (guided by the smoke rising from the discharged muskets), until the firing of the infantry in the woods in
front of us ceased entirely.   *  The effect of our fire must
have been good, judging from his speedy retreat and the reports of
some men of our brigade who were pursuing him in the woods.
The men behaved well, executing all movements as accurately as
on the drill-ground."
The battery was next engaged at Mechanicsville, before Richmond, on the 31st of May, 1862.  On the 27th of June, it participated in the severe engagement at Gaines' Mills, having reported
to Colonel Taylor, commanding the First New Jersey Brigade, and
being by him placed on the right of the brigade-Prince de Joinville, of McClellan's staff, accompanying the command to its
position-in an open field some two hundred yards from the woods
occupied by the rebels, and in which an infantry fight was in
progress. Immediately upon the battery coming into position, the
enemy opened upon it, killing and wounding seventeen horses
before it was able to fire a single shot; the men, however, received
the fire without trepidation, and as soon as possible replied with
vigor. Captain Hexamer's report of the day's action, as made to
86




682           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Colonel Taylor, says of the operations of the battery subsequent
to this assault from the enemy: " After half an hour's rest, during
which time the musket balls of the enemy reached us in great
numbers, I received an order by Adjutant de Joinville from
General Porter, to advance fifty yards towards the woods and
open fire at eleven hundred yards distance, where the rebels were
supposed to be in line. We threw about thirty rounds, when the
musket fire in our front ceased, and I received an order by the
same Adjutant to discontinue firing.  We were kept in rest about
twenty minutes, when suddenly the firing in our front and all
along the woods was renewed and raged for about half an hour
with the greatest fury. The musketry came nearer every moment,
and finally our infantry left the woods, followed closely by the
enemy.  At this moment I received your order to open fire
with spherical case and canister, which was at once complied
with.  Simultaneously the battery on my left opened fire, and
after about fifteen minutes' firing, we had silenced entirely the
musketry of the enemy in front of us.  The smoke hanging
over the field now rendered it quite impossible to observe any
movements of the rebels.  Suddenly we received a volley of
musketry from our left, followed by an incessant firing of the
infantry, which had already advanced upon the battery on the left
of us, taking it with the bayonet. Not being supported, I found
it necessary to limber and retire to the next hill in rear of our
position. One driver of the left section was shot down, while two
horses of the same pieces, three of the caisson horses, and one
sergeant's horse, were disabled.  The piece, the horses of which
were shot, could not be brought forward, and fell into the hands
of the enemy, who took possession of it immediately.  Besides
the driver, four other men were wounded in this engagement.
Reaching the hill before mentioned, General Slocum  ordered me
to go into battery and fire to the rear, which I did, answering the
firing of a rebel battery brought into action about one thousand
yards from us.  We continued firing until the battery opposite us
ceased, and at eleven o'clock I received orders to return to camp.
During the day we fired one hundred and sixty-five rounds



BATTERY A-(FIRST ARTILLERY).                683
spherical case, shot and shells. During the whole day my men
stood well to their work-notwithstanding we were for hours
under the heaviest musketry and cannon fire-manoeuvering,
loading and firing, quite without excitement."
The testimony here borne by the gallant commandant to the
courage and endurance of his men, was no more than just.
Throughout the entire battle, they displayed the utmost coolness
and indifference to danger, eliciting from all who witnessed their
conduct the warmest commendation.  Prince de Joinville, witnessing the intrepidity with which the battery met the rebel attack,
spoke in glowing terms of their bravery, and in a letter afterwards
published in a Paris journal, declared that he had never seen, anywhere, soldiers who received an attack so coolly as the German
battery which was under his orders during the battle of Gaines'
Mill.
The services of Battery A in this campaign did not end with this
engagement.  When, our army being driven back, the enemy
pushed forward in pursuit, this was the first battery which opened
fire upon the pursuers, and it was in no small degree owing to its
active services that the advance was checked and opportunity given
to our exhausted infantry to make good their escape. During the
retreat, so great was the confusion, and so entangled were the infantry and artillery, that Captain I-lexamer was obliged to dismount
his drivers, and use them, when he again opened, together with the
officers, in serving the guns.
Upon the withdrawal of the army to Harrison's Landing, the
battery went into camp, where it remained until about the 26th of
August, when it embarked for Alexandria, where it arrived on the
29th, marching on the same day with General Franklin's troops to
Fairfax Court House. Pope was at this time desperately engaged
with a large force of the enemy.  Hexamer at once found active
work, being posted during the fight at Chantilly on the road between
that place and Fairfax Court House, on the right of General Kearney's Division.  After the battle, the battfry returned to its old
camp near Alexandria, whence it marched on the 3d of September
into Maryland, reaching Sugar-loaf mountain on the 10th.  Thence




684           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
it followed the retiring rebels through Burkettsville to Crampton's
Pass, participating in the attack upon the enemy at that point, and
winning fresh honors by its gallantry. Reaching the top of the
mountain, the battery remained until the 17th, when it proceeded
to Antietam, where it again performed distinguished service. At
the time when the battery was ordered into action, the battle on
the right had become desperate in the last degree, the contending
armies struggling with a courage scarcely paralleled for the position
about the Dunker Church.  Near this church, standing on the edge
of a woods skirting the east side of the road running north from
Sharpsburg. the enemy had several batteries which seriously annoyed
our infantry, who held another belt of woods several hundred yards
west of the church. In front of this latter woods, stretched an
open field, across which our columns had already advanced, only,
however, to be repulsed.  It was three o'clock in the afternoon (of
the 17th) when Hexamer was ordered to advance and take position
in this field, at a distance of some seven hundred yards from the
church, behind which the enemy were gathered in force. At this
time a battery of heavy rifled guns (twenty pounder Parrotts) was
in position and throwing shells and shrapnel among our infantry,
posted about one thousand five hundred yards distant. Hexamer
at once opened upon this battery with shells, and so accurate was
his aim, that after firing one hundred and fifty rounds, he effectually
silenced it, the operation occupying less than half an hour.' Soon
after this, a second battery (of twelve-pounder howitzers) came into
position in front of Hexamer, and commenced unlimbering at a
distance of seven hundred yards.  He at once opened vigorously
upon the intruders, firing some thirty rounds of shrapnel, when,
without firing a gun, the rebel, finding himself in hot quarters,
reconsidered his purpose to attack and hurriedly withdrew out of
range.
About this time, Hexamer received orders to report to General
Hancock, and proceeding to the position designated, was ordered
1 Officers of high rank, who saw this affair, have informed the writer that it was in
every respect one of the handsomest they ever witnessed.




BATTERY A-(FIRST ARTILLERY).                     685
to fire upon two rebel regiments, drawn up about one thousand
yards distant. At once opening with shell and shrapnels, and
pouring a rapid fire into the rebel flanks he speedily caused them
also to retire, leaving, however, not a few of their number behind,
dead and wounded.  The enemy now  fell back  to  an  orchard,
which Hexamer shelled vigorously for about half an hour, when a
battery opened upon him on the right flank at about nineteen hundred yards distance-the enemy at the same time advancing and
opening with musketry at a range of two hundred yards. Thus
sharply assailed, Captain Hexamer "ordered the left-half battery,"
we quote the langnage of his report, "to fire with canister in the
direction of the infantry, and the right-half battery to fire with
shells towards the battery on the right flank. This was immediately done, causing the infantry to fall back a second time from
their position.  I then ordered the left-half battery to direct its fire
also against the battery on our right, which had our exact range
and was throwing shells and shrapnel among my men and the
infantry in our rear, killing two of my horses, and wounding and
killing many of the infantry.  I continued firing until we had
expended all the ammunition contained in the limber-chests of the
pieces, whereupon I was relieved by another battery. I used,
during the action. two hundred and eighty shells, two hundred
shrapnels, and fifteen canisters.   The officers and men behaved
extremely well." 
During the night of the 18th, the battery was again ordered to
the front, where it remained until Lee had withdrawn, when it
joined in the pursuit.  Subsequently it went into camp at Bakersville, where it was considerably strengthened, Company K, of the
First Regiment Volunteers, also from  Hoboken, being transferred
2 In a private note, Captain Hexamer says:
"When we returned from the front near the church, where we silenced two rebel
batteries, the First Division of the Sixth Corps, which was laying on the ground behind
us, rose and gave us three cheers. During the battle I had only eighty men present
for service, and was obliged to change the cannoneers with the drivers to keep the
battery going. While we were on the center with General Hancock, we had to call
for infantry to help us serve the guns. We fired near one hundred rounds with each
gun from three o'clock, p. m., to six o'clock, p. m."




686              NEW  JERSEY  AND  THE REBELLION.
to the battery, and the men in hospital returning to duty, giving
it the fall number of effective men.  After some weeks, moving
with the Sixth Corps to Warrenton, and thence to the vicinity  of
White Oak Church, the battery went into  camp until the 11th of
December, when it advanced with the infantry to the Rappahannock, crossing on the following day with General Brooks, of the
First Division of the Sixth  Corps.  The  rebel batteries  on  the
heights in rear of Fredericksburg opening on the position held by
Hexamer, he vigorously replied, firing until nightfall.  During the
three following days, he remained  in  the  same  position, doing
effective service, finally withdrawing on the 15th, with  the rest of
the army.<
The following letter from Reverend NormanW. Camp, (Chaplain of the Fourth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers,) to Captain Hexamer, is of interest in connection with
the account of this battle:
"Whilst I was on duty at a field hospital near the battle-field of Antietam, Maryland, I was asked one day by a wounded rebel officer (a Captain,) who was in the hospital, to find and bring you to see him. I thought the request rather a singular one,
so I pressed him to tell me why he was so anxious to see you. His reply was in substance as follows:
"' I want to see the Captain of a battery, which we fear more than any other battery
in your army. His battery did us more damage than any two batteries you had in the
recent battle (Antietam). I cannot help having great respect for such a powerful battery, and as I am here wounded and probably shall die, it would afford me great satisfaction to see its Captain. We fear Captain Hexamer's Battery just about as we fear
your General Kearney in the infantry.'
" In order to satisfy such a curiosity, and which I thought to be a very reasonable
one, I tried to find you but could not, and at the end ot the week he was paroled and
sent to the hospital at Frederick City. This officer said he was from North Carolina,
and had charge of the battery which opened on us one very dark and stormy night at
Harrison's Landing in July last.
"I mentioned this request of the rebel officer to see you, in presence of MajorGeneral Franklin, General Slocum and General Newton, in General Franklin's tent.
They were all very much interested in my narration of this circumstance, and all
concurred in saying that you were a gallant and brave officer and that your battery
did more effective service in the battle at Antietam than any other on the field."
3 The following is the official report:
" CAMP WHITE OAK CHURCH, December 26, 1862.
"SIR: I herewith submit to you the following report, concerning the part taken by
my battery in the action near Fredericksburg, December 12th-15th.
"The battery crossed the Rappahannock on the lower bridge in rear of General
Brook's Division, (First Division Sixth Corps) on the 12th of December, and advanced
in the field below Fredericksburg, with the infantry of the said division to the road
leading from Fredericksburg in a southeasterly direction. The battery rested near
said road, during the time our infantry advanced through the' deep run' towards the
hills held by the enemy, until the batteries posted on said hill opened on the infantry
and on us, at which time we received the order to commence firing. We fired until




BATTERY A-(FIRST ARTILLERY).                        687
The battery was now  unemployed until the 12th of January,
1863, when it participated  in  the "Mud  Campaign."   In this
movement, Hexamer's was the only battery which came punctually
into position at the front. It was also the only battery which
effected a return to camp without the aid of infantry, all the
others finding it necessary to call in assistance to move the heavy
pieces over the miserable roads. The promptness and efficiency
exhibited by the battery in this movement elicited the warmest
praise from General Brooks and others.
The battery  now  remained  at White Oak  Church  in  winter
quarters until the 28th of April, when, Hooker initiating the
Chancellorsville campaign, it moved to the Rappahannock and
went into position to cover Franklin's crossing. Engaged in this
duty until May 2d, it crossed the river and took position with a
view of engaging the rebel batteries on Marye's Heights. On the
morning of the 3d, the engagement opened with great vigor, the
artillery  on both  sides displaying  tremendous activity.  About
noon, the enemy having been driven from the Heights, Battery A
advanced through Fredericksburg, and over the Heights, some
three miles in the  direction of Chancellorsville.   Here, in  the
vicinity of Salem  Church, where the First Jersey Brigade had
encountered the enemy in force, the battery at once took position,
and becoming engaged, fought until nightfall with its accustomed
the batteries opposite us ceased firing, with good effect on the rebel batteries. On the
13th, we were ordered to the same place we held on the 12th, with the instructions to
fire on the enemy's batteries on the hill in front of us as soon as said batteries should
open their fire, which took place at about twelve o'clock. We answered the fire of
three or four batteries on the hill until they discontinued their fire.
"We remained in the same position on the 14th and 15th, and fired from time to
time.
"On the 15th, we opened on a working party of the enemy, which was throwing up
earthworks in front of us. In the night of the 15th, we were ordered to recross the
Rappahannock and to go in position on the hill north of the river.
" On the 16th we fired from this position on a large mass of infantry of the enemy,
which we could observe marching on the south side of the Rappahannock. The dis
tance of the enemy's batteries in front of my battery on the field south of the Rappahannock, on which we fired on the 12-15th, was from two thousand seven hundred to
three thousand two hundred yards.
"Most respectfully,
" WILLIAM HEXAMER,
"Captain Commanding Battery A, First New Jersey Artillery."




688           NEW JERSEY AND TIE REBELLION.
gallantry and efficiency.  On the following day, being posted on
the left of the turnpike, Hexamer was again actively engaged,
falling back, however, at night to Banks' Ford, where it covered
the crossing of our troops who, despairing of victory, were quitting
the bloody field where they had so bravely but so vainly fought.
At midnight, the battery also crossed, and after remaining three
days near the river, proceeded to its old camp-having in the
several engagements fired about twelve hundred rounds.
On the 12th of May, the battery was transferred from the Sixth
Corps to the Artillery Reserve, remaining in camp until the 5th of
June, when it moved to a new  position near the Rappahannock,
whence, however, it soon after marched to Fairfax Court House,
where it remained until the army commenced its movement into
Pennsylvania in pursuit of Lee. Reaching Edward's Ferry, on
the Potomac, on the 24th (after a march of thirty-two miles on
that day), the battery assisted in covering the crossing of our
troops, when, on the 27th, it marched to Frederick, Maryland, and
thence with the army to Gettysburg, where it arrived on the
morning of July 2d, going into position on the turnpike, but not
becoming engaged, although exposed to the shells of the enemy.
On the 3d, changing position to the left center of the line of battle,
upon which Lee was concentrating all his artillery, the battery
opened and maintained a heavy fire, fighting until evening.  The
contest on this part of the line was of the most desperate character,
the enemy advancing to the very mouths of our guns, and struggling with the most stubborn intrepidity to gain possession of the
elevation occupied by our troops. At one time during the engagement, the rebels, pressing impetuously forward, were within ten
yards of Hexamer's pieces, but not a man flinched for a moment.
Indeed, never before had these sturdy German artillerists exhibited
a grander courage, or a sublimer indifference to danger, than on
this occasion, when menaced, apparently, with utter destruction.
So terrible was the rebel fire that one of their shots killed two
men and wounded seven others serving one of Hexamer's pieces.
Upon the retreat of Lee, Battery A joined in the pursuit, and
crossing the Potomac at Harper's Ferry, marched to Warrenton,




BATTERY A-(FIRST ARTILLERY).              689
proceeding thence to Culpepper, where it encamped until October
11th. It then participated in the various movements of the army,
finally encamping on November 8th, near the Rappahannock.
Subsequently it participated in the Mine Run  demonstration,
returning to camp at Brandy Station, where it remained during
the winter, receiving before the spring campaign some eighty
recruits.
On the 4th of May, 1864, General Grant having matured his
plans for an advance against the enemy, Battery A marched to
Chancellorsville, moving on the following morning to the right of
that point, passing Robertson's Tavern. Thence it was moved on
the 7th to Pine Grove Church, where it remained, in reserve, until
the 10th, when it marched to Tabernacle Church, and thence to
Fredericksburg, returning to the Sixth Corps. On the 18th, it
again advanced, and on the 19th reached the river Po, where it
participated in a heavy fight. In the advance from this point, the
battery covered the rear of the Sixth Corps-passing the North
Anna on the 24th, the Pamunkey on the 28th, and reaching Cold
Harbor shortly after noon on June 1st.  Here it was at once sent
into position, taking part in the bloody engagement of that dayfiring in all five hundred and ten rounds.  In the evening it
advanced some two hundred yards, and early on the following
morning renewed its firing, keeping it up, though greatly annoyed
by sharpshooters, for several hours.  About noon, the rebels
making an attack, the battery suffered the loss of Lieutenant
Jaeckele wounded, Quartermaster-Sergeant Hagelber and another
sergeant killed-several horses being also killed. Towards evening, being ordered to report to the Eighteenth Army Corps,
Hexamer withdrew his command, but on the following day was
again engaged with that corps-the fighting being of the heaviest
description. In this engagement, a division under General Brooks
being driven out of the woods temporarily occupied by them, the
rebels sharply followed, opening fire with canister. Hexamer was
ordered to check the enemy's batteries, and did so, although
exposed to a canister fire at a distance of only two hundred yards.
During this day's fighting, five hundred and seventy-seven rounds
87




690           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
were fired. Captain Hexamer had one of his shoulder-straps shot
away, but escaped actual injury. During the evening, the camp
of the battery was under the fire of the enemy, several horses
being killed and two men wounded. On the 4th, the battery again
moved to the front, being posted behind earthworks under the fire
of the rebel sharpshooters, but was not again actively engaged
until the night of the 5th, when the position being attacked, fire
was opened and continued at intervals until the evening of the
9th, when the command retired to camp.  Here it remained until
the 12th, when, after a brief engagement, it marched with the
army to the James River, crossing on the morning of the 15th,
and reaching the front of Petersburg on the night of the 16th.
On the 19th, going- into position at a peculiarly exposed point,
with rebel batteries on the right, left and front, and rebel sharpshooters only one hundred yards distant, it became hotly engaged,
three men being wounded and four horses killed. In this position
the battery remained, firing from time to time, until the night of
the 21st, when it marched to the left of Petersburg and went into
camp. During the following week, though several times sent into
position, the command was not called into action. On the 30th,
it marched to Ream's Station, returning two days after and going
into camp. Here it remained until July 9th, when it proceeded to
City Point, remaining until the 26th.  Upon returning to Petersburg, Captain Hexamer was placed in command of the Sixth
Corps Artillery Brigade-Lieutenant A. Parsons taking charge of
Battery A.  This, on the 31st, was ordered to return to Trenton
for muster out, its term of service having expired. Lieutenant
Parsons, however, remained with a portion of the men, and during
the winter the battery was again filled up, but was not afterwards
actively engaged. Upon the termination of hostilities it returned
to the State and was finally dissolved; but the record of its gallant
services still remains, and while valor and constancy in duty are
appreciated and esteemed, will deservedly be held in honor among
men.  Composed largely of adopted citizens-of Germans in
whose breasts the love of Liberty amounted to a passion-it
fought from first to last with a heroism, a loftiness of purpose, and




BATTERY  A-(FIRST  ARTILLERY).                          691
a spirit of noble consecration which none, among all the volunteer
organizations of the war, ever surpassed; and  its  survivors, in
whatever spheres of action they may now be employed, may well
wear their scars with pride, and  rejoice  in  the memories of their
service as in hid treasure.
The following is the register of the commissioned officers actually
in service of Battery A:
Captain-William  Hexamer, mustered in August 12, 1861; mustered out August
12, 1864.
First Lieutenants-John Fingerlin, mustered in August 12, 1861; resigned November 30, 1861. Christian Woerner, mustered in August 12, 1861; resigned October 8, 1862. John I. Hoff, mustered in August 12, 1861; resigned November, 1862.
George W. B. Wright, mustered in August 1, 1862; resigned March 28, 1863. Angustin Parsons, mustered in July 11, 1862; took the command August 12, 1864. William
Yeagle, mustered in April 21, 1863.
Second Lieutenants-Herrman Lentz, mustered in August 12, 1861; resigned September 4, 1861. Adolph Palois, mustered in May 15, 1862; resigned July 13, 1862. William Hausemann, mustered in 1862; resigned July 30, 1862. Philip Phildius, musstered in 1863; resigned NoveAiber 12, 1863. Samuel F. Wheeler, mustered in June
23, 1863; mustered out August 12, 1864. William O. Bonin, mustered in December
15, 1863; mustered out with the battery, 1865.




CHAPTER XXXVI.
BATTERY   B-(Second  Artillery.)
BATTERY B, Second New Jersey Artillery, was organized in
August, 1861, by Captain John E. Beam, and was composed principally of members of Company F, First (three months) Regiment,
who had just been discharged.  The company was mustered into
the United States service September 3d, at Trenton, but owing to
the want of quartermaster's stores, did not leave for Washington
until the latter part of the month. Soon after reaching the capital,
it received itA guns and horses, and was ordered to report to General Heintzelman, commanding the Third Corps, when it went into
camp on the Mount Vernon road, two miles south of Alexandria,
and prepared for winter quarters. The winter was spent in drill
and preparations for the spring campaign, the monotony being occasionally broken by a reconnoissance in the direction of the enemy,
then lying about Manassas.
In March, 1862, the battery embarked for Fortress Monroe,
arriving on the 24th and moving with the army to Yorktown.
Here it had its first opportunity to test its guns, being twice
engaged, but without other casualties than the loss of three horses.
The enemy evacuating Yorktown, the battery moved forward to
Williamsburg, where it was again engaged. In the continued
movement up the Peninsula, the battery suffered greatly, with the
rest of the army, in the low grounds of the Chickahominy, onethird of the men being at one time in hospital. In the battle of
Seven Pines, the battery did splendid service, and at Peach Orchard,
where the left of the command was under Lieutenant A. J. Clark,
it received special mention in orders for its gallantry, being directed
to inscribe " Peach Orchard" upon its colors. In this engagement,
several charges of the enemy were bloodily repulsed, and the men




BATTERY B-(SECOND ARTILLERY).              693
displayed throughout the most obstinate intrepidity.  While in
front of Richmond, the battery performed almost constant picket
duty. During the retreat, it was engaged at Malvern Hill, suffering the loss of Captain Beam killed and two men wounded. Captain Beam was a brave and efficient officer, and his loss was sincerely mourned by the command. While at Harrison's Landing,
the battery suffered the loss of many of its best men from scurvy
and camp disease, and all were rejoiced when the army was ordered
to Washington. The vessel on which the battery was embarked
getting aground in the Potomac, it did not reach Alexandria in
time to move up to the assistance of General Pope, then fighting
desperately with Lee's veterans, nor, being left in the defences of
Washington, did it take part in the battle of Antietam. This,
however, was the only battle of the Third Corps in which it did
not participate.
While at Harrison's Landing, Lieutenant A. J. Clark succeeded
to the command of the battery, and under his vigorous direction,
it was speedily brought to as high a state of efficiency as before the
Peninsula campaign, being now rated among the very best batteries in the service. The Fall of 1862 was spent in marching and
reconnoissances without any decided results until December, when
the command was again brought into action at Fredericksburg.
During tile winter it was employed in marching, participating in
several cavalry reconnoisances, which tested the endurance of the
men, if they did not result in any marked gains to the cause. In
May, 1863, when Hooker moved against the enemy, the battery
was desperately engaged at Chancellorsville-Captain Clark here
commanding the First Division Artillery. Perhaps the command
never fought more magificently than on this occasion. At one
period in the engagement, the enemy advancing in heavy column,
succeeded in seizing all the caissons, the forge and battery wagon,
but the men stood bravely to their work and repulsed the assailants, though not without loss. When the Eleventh Corps broke,
and the enemy pressed forward exultantly into the breach, Battery
B, with two others-one being Bramhall's, composed of Jerseymen
-held the column in check, pouring canister right into their faces




694           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
at short range, and piling the dead in heaps.  The Battery lost four
men killed, five wounded, and two taken prisoners. One of its
caissons was blown up. and one captured, while thirteen horses
were killed. It again received special mention for its efficiency,
and its celebrity throughout the army was from this day permanently established.
Being again repaired and recruited, the battery marched with the
army into Pennsylvania, doing picket duty at night at the various
gaps in the Blue Ridge on the left of the line of march, and moving
rapidly, in order to keep up with the main column, in the daytime.
This severe duty told heavily on the men and the condition of the
horses, but the command pushed steadily forward, reaching Gettysburg late on the night of July 1st, and taking position on the left
of our line. At ten o'clock on the following morning it was
thrown forward with the First Brigade, Second Division, Third
Corps, to feel the enemy, and for some six hours vigorously shelled
bodies of the enemy forming on our front and left. At four o'clock,
p. m,, the rebels, annoyed by the fire, opened four full batteries on
the Jerseymen, at the same time advancing a large force of infantry.
The reserve artillery, however, promptly moved to the assistance
of Battery B, and the action became general, the cannonade of the
enemy being for a time of the most fearful character, one hundred
and sixty guns pouring their storm of missiles over and around our
position. At six o'clock, p. n., the enemy advanced in columns of
Division, forty thousand strong, meaning to crush and sweep away
the Third Corps, then only nine thousand strong. Their ranks
swept by canister, they still firmly advanced, fighting desperately
and bravely, at last compelling the corps to give way and retire,
the center withdrawing nearly a mile. Battery B, in withdrawing,
left several of its caissons, being unable, before the headlong
advance of the rebels, to draw them off, but none of its guns were
lost, being thus more fortunate than the batteries on its left, which
lost everything, all their horses being killed. The entire loss of
the command was five killed and twenty-two wounded, forty-seven
of its horses being also killed. During the day it fired in all one
thousand three hundred and twenty rounds of ammunition, and so




BATTERY B-(SECOND ARTILLERY).                695
rapid was the firing that the iron vent-plugs of the guns (tenpounder Parrott's) were burnt out.  During this engagement, Captain Clark commanded the Corps Artillery, after the wounding of
the officer in command (Captain Randolph) at the commencement
of the action, a position which he retained until the latter had recovered.  The enemy being subsequently forced back to his old
lines, the battery recovered its caissons, and the disabled guns during the night being exchanged for others, and supplies of ammunition obtained, at ten o'clock on the morning of the 3d, Lieutenant
Tuers reported the battery again ready for duty.  No further loss,
however, was sustained in this day's fight, and the enemy having
withdrawn, the command was ordered to Crampton's Pass, by way
of Fredericktown, where it remained until Lee had re-crossed the
Potomac, when it joined the army in the return march to the Rappahannock. In December, it accompanied the army to Mine Run,
having participated in three skirmishes, at Auburn, Kelley's Ford
and Thoroughfare Mountain.
In the latter part of the winter of 1863-4, the Third Corps was
broken up, and as one division united with the Second Corps. In
the last grand campaign against Richmond, commenced in May
1864, Battery B was engaged in the battles around Spottsylvania,
with the troops of the Second Corps, and at North Anna, Tolopotomy, and Cold Harbor, at the latter place being under fire for
ten days. The losses in these several engagements were nine men
in killed, wounded and prisoners. From Cold Harbor, the battery
marched by way of Charles City Court House to Jones' Landing,
on the James River, being with the rear guard nearly all the way
to that river.  From  the James, it marched with the leading
division to Petersburg, arriving there on the morning of the 16th
of June, and being the first battery of the Army of the Potomac
to take position. Here the command was engaged on the 16th,
17th and 18th, marching four days later to the left of the line, and
on the 23d, being sharply engaged at Jerusalem plank road, with
the loss of one man killed (Corporal Nash) and two woundedseveral horses being also killed.  At Deep Bottom and Ream's
Station, subsequently, it again showed its excellent fighting quali



696           NEW JERSEY AND  Tj!E REBELLIO'.
ties-Captain Clark at both places commanding the Corps Artillery. At Sutherland's Station, it was the only battery mentioned
for gallantry and efficiency in the report of General Humphreys,
the corps commander.
In all the closing actions of the war, in which Battery B participated, it displayed the same conspicuous courage which secured it
recognition in earlier engagements. Always vigilant, steady, brave,
it won on every field fresh honors for our New Jersey troops, and,
when at length the last gun had been fired, turned its face homeward,
sure of a proud and hearty welcome from the State and people it
had so nobly represented. Captain Clark, subsequent to his return,
was given a highly honorable and responsible position under the
municipal administration of Newark, for which his military experience had peculiarly qualified him.




CHAPTER XXXVII.
BATTERY  C —(Third Artillery).
BATTERY C, Third New Jersey Artillery, was mustered into
service on the 11th of September, 1863, with Christian Woerner
as Captain, John I. Bargfield as First Lieutenant, and Peter
Ludwig as Second Lieutenant.  Captain Woerner had served with
marked gallantry and efficiency in connection with Hexamer's
Battery, and was eminently qualified for the responsibilities of
command. Proceeding to Washington, the battery went into camp,
where it remained until May 11, 1864, when it was transferred by
steam transports to Belle Plain Landing, where it arrived on the
12th. At this time, Grant was still fighting Lee's army in the
Wilderness, and large numbers of prisoners were being daily sent
to the rear. On the 13th, seven thousand five hundred rebels,
mostly captured in Hancock's brilliant charge at Spottsylvania the
day previous, reached the Landing, and no provision having been
made for their transportation to Washington, were placed under
guard of Abercrombie's Provisional Brigade, to which the Third
Battery was attached.  In this important service, the men of
the battery proved themselves at once vigilant and efficient —being
well supported by the Forty-sixth New York and two Pennsylvania regiments of infantry. On the 24th of May, the brigade
was ordered to Port Royal, and thence to White House Landing,
on the York river, where it arrived June 4th. About this time
the army moved up to invest Petersburg, having White House as
its depot of supplies. It was therefore of the highest importance
that the place should be held, but the force left in occupation was
singularly insignificant, consisting of some four hundred infantry,
a few invalids and dismounted cavalry, and Woerner's Battery.
The enemy, appreciating the value of the post, and covetous per.
88




698           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
haps of its ample supplies, determined to capture it if possible, and
accordingly on the 20th of June impelled a large force of infantry
and cavalry against it, the whole under command of Generals
Fitz-Hugh Lee and Pemberton.  In the assault, the enemy's
cavalry appeared in advance, shortly after six o'clock in the
morning, but Captain Woerner, who had been ordered to hold his
position at all hazards, proved fully equal to the emergency.
Opening promptly with solid shot, he soon checked the advancing
cavalry, who, finding their welcome much warmer than they had
anticipated, after receiving four or five shots, withdrew in confusion.  The assault, however, was not abandoned.  Two hours
later, the enemy, having gained a better knowledge of the ground,
posted a battery on the left of our position, and opened a vigorous
fire on Woerner's command. At the same time, under protection
of the rebel cavalry, another battery was placed in position in
front, and joined in the assault.  Woerner's position, thus vehemently assailed, was one of extreme danger, the shell and solid
shot of the assailants falling thickly among his men, but there was
no sign of faltering or fear.  His guns, served accurately and
rapidly, replied defiantly to the rebel challenge, and the gunboats
lying in the river presently joining in the action, the enemy was
again speedily repulsed. Just before the rebel fire was silenced,
one of Woerner's shots-about the last fired-exploded one of the
enemy's limbers, shattering it into splinters, and killing thirty-four
men, some of whom  were so mutilated that their clothing, when
found on the following day, was torn in shreds.  The repulse was
complete, and that the position was securely held was mainly due
to the obstinate courage of Woerner and his men. The battery
had two horses killed, but suffered no other casualties.
On the night of the 20th, General Sheridan reached White
House with a large cavalry force, whereupon the Third Battery
was ordered to march with his command to Charles City Court
I-louse, where a severe engagement was had with the rebels, Sheridan losing one battery and several hundred men.  Woerner being
stationed in the center of the line, was not in the action, though
prepared to open fire at any moment,  On the night following the




BATTERY C-(THIIRD ARTILLERY).               699
engagement, the battery was ordered into position in front of
Sheridan's headquarters, where it remained until the march was
resumed.  On the 24th the column reached White Oak Landing,
where it crossed the James to Windmill Point, and was ordered to
join the Second Corps-the battery on the 29th reporting to the
Corps Chief of Artillery. A month later, on the 27th of July,
the Third Battery proceeded with two divisions of the Second
Corps to Deep Bottom, where it participated in an assault upon the
enemy. Captain Woerner, reporting to General Mott, was at first
posted on the right of a wood occupied by our infantry, but subsequently, the enemy having got two batteries in position, he
moved forward his battery some four hundred yards, and openingo
fire, quickly silenced all the hostile guns, which, the infantry now
advancing, were captured. This exploit of the battery elicited
warm commendations, and was fortunately accomplished without
any loss whatever.  Returning  to  Petersburg, the command
remained encamped for some days in the breastworks on the left,
being subsequently moved to and fro, occupying various positions,
until the 23d of August, when it participated in the expedition to
Ream's Station, and two days later was vigorously engaged.  On
the morning of that day, the battery was in position in the breastworks near the Statioi, on the right wing of our position, having
on its right McKnight's Twelfth New  York Battery-where it
remained until three o'clock in the afternoon.  At that hour, says
Captain Woerner, in his report,; I was ordered to move the battery through a little grove to an open field of some twenty acres,
on our center.  Here the first section, under command of First
Lieutenant Bargfield, was brought in position in front of the woods,
and towards the left. The second section was brought in position
in the center of the open field towards the left from where the
enemy was expected to appear. At about four o'clock, p. m., a
rebel battery opened a heavy concentrated fire on the second section of my battery, in position in the field, which I returned,
silencing some of their pieces. The rebel infantry attacking and
approaching very near to our position, I changed it about one hundred yards to the rear, and fired with canister against them. When




700              NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
near dark, I changed my position again to the front of the woods,
where I kept up  firing  until night, when the troops were withdrawn, it being impossible to hold the place during the night.
During the engagement, I fired forty-eight shell, one hundred and
eighty-four spherical case, one hundred and sixteen solid shot,
seventy-four canister, making a total of four hundred and twentytwo rounds, of which three hundred and eighteen rounds were of
my own ammunition, and the rest from ammunition abandoned by
some other battery. I had four men killed, left on the field, seven
men wounded, five horses killed and six wounded. I also lost a
caisson body, which it was impossible to bring off the field.  When
returning from the battle-field, I was informed that some of the
pieces and caissons abandoned by the batteries might be saved,
when, at a favorable place, I brought my battery to a halt, returned
with my horses and brought off in safety several pieces and caissons
of the Twelfth New York Battery."
This report of Captain  Woerner, characteristically  brief and
modest, scarcely  portrays  with  the  emphasis  and  clearness  it
deserves, the magnificent action of his whole command during this
severe engagement.  Cotemporaneous accounts' all concurred  in
I A correspondent of the Philadelphia Enquirer, said of the battery and its action:
"This battery was organized by Captain C. Woerner, at Hoboken, New Jersey, in
August, 1863. The Captain was previously Lieutenant of the First New Jersey Artillery, with which rank he served through the Peninsula campaign, and showed himself a brave and competent officer. In the engagement at Ream's Station the Third
New Jersey Battery was posted to the right of the Third Division, but subsequently
occupied a position on the left. In the general assault at half-past four oclock, p. m.,
the line was pressed back and the Union batteries captured and turned on the Third
New Jersey Battery. At this critical moment Captain Woerner's command displayed
conspicuous bravery. The men stood to their guns resolutely. They received shell
and shot from the right, left and centre, but remained firm, and only fell back at the
command of a staff-officer, who complimented the men on the spot for their gallantry.
All the pieces were brought off in good order, and also the pieces of the Twelfth New
York Battery. The boys are anxious for another trial of skill and courage with the
rebels.
"The number of casualties was small considering the battery's exposed position.
Killed-Mahon, Young, Falk and Dike. Wounded-Kics, Thomas, Fry, Relarius,
Sergeant Koer and W. Shulz, of Nazareth, New Jersey."
A correspondent of the New York Herald, said:
"Woerner's Third New Jersey Battery occupied several positions about the center
of the circle, and fired in different directions, wherever the enemy appeared. All the
officers and men are Germans. Lieutenants Bargfeld and Trebel were in charge of the
sections. This battery lost five men killed and seven men wounded. Hancock said,




BATTER   C -(THtRD ARTILLERY).                 701
ascribing the very highest credit to the battery, and the government
promptly recognized the efficiency of the commandant by making
him Major by brevet for " gallant and distinguished services" on
this cccasion.
Returning to the Artillery Brigade before Petersburg, the battery
remained in position before Fort Hell and elsewhere, until the 1st
of October, when it was posted in front of Battery Number Sixteen.
Two weeks later it was placed in Fort Alexander Hays, and during the remainder of the fall and winter was stationed as follows:
From  November 1st to November 22d, in Fort Alexander Hays;
from the 23d of November to the end of January, 1865, in Fort
Haskell; during February and March, two guns in Fort Sedgwick
and four in Fort Haskell. During this time the battery was frequently engaged, but never seriously.  On the 25th of March,
however, it was again called to exhibit its high soldierly efficiency.
At that time the situation of the enemy was every day growing
more critical, and it had become necessary that he should, if possible, shake off the tightening grasp of our army upon his position.
Accordingly, selecting a point of attack on the extreme right of
our lines on the south side of the Appomattox, where the slope of
the ground afforded excellent facilities for rapidly intrenching in
case of success, General Lee quietly concentrated his best troops
and a large number of guns in proportion, for an assault, meaning,
if he could, to obtain command of the line of our military railroad,
and possibly render our whole position untenable, at the same time
releasing Petersburg from our clutch and Richmond from  its precarious situation.  Early on the morning  of the 25th, having
massed a heavy forde on that part of our front commencing at the
south bank of the Appomattox, and extending about one mile
south, the enemy suddenly advanced, and capturing a part of our
picket line, at once charged with two brigades upon our main line.'that battery fought splendidly; it fired every way.' Captain A. J. Clark, acting commandant of artillery in the absence of Major Hazzard, was slightly wounded in the
face. Thus the artillery performed important service in the battle yesterday, and contributed much to cover the ground in front of our works with the masses of killed
and wounded which the enemy left upon the field."




702           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
The attack was so skilfully planned and promptly executed, that
before our troops could be got ready, the assailants were within our
works, compelling us to abandon Fort Steadman with scarcely an
effort at resistance. Once in the fort, the rebels seized upon the
guns and turned them upon our men. Batteries Ten and Eleven,
two small redoubts close to Fort Steadman, on either side, had to
be abandoned as soon as the fort was taken, as had also the lines of
works connecting them.  Our men were hardly out of these positions when the rebel gunners took possession and opened fire upon
the retiring lines.  They next made a dash at Fort Haskell, a large
work further to the left, but here they met a welcome other than
they expected.  Major Woerner was in command of the garrison
in this work, and  through his vigilance, the intruders were
promptly brought to a dubious pause.  The One Hundredth
New York, which was in the fort with the Third Jersey Artillery,
instantly mounted the parapets and poured upon the shrinking
column a murderous shower of bullets, compelling it to immediately retire towards Fort Steadman. On perceiving this repulse,
the rebel gunners in the latter fort turned three guns upon Fort
IIaskell, and for half an hour poured shot and shell into it as rapidly
as the pieces could be worked.  The gallant Woerner was not to
be outdone in compliments of this character, but replied with
equal rapidity and remarkable accuracy, and the garrison nobly
kept the rebel assaulting column at bay with their volleys of musketry, aided occasionally by a discharge of canister into the ene
my's midst.  Meanwhile another rebel column had filed through
the breach at Fort Steadman, and, turning to the right, was moving
towards the Friend House, General Wilcox's headquarters. Still
another formed into line of battle, and were driving our skirmishers slowly back immediately to the rear of the place of entrance.
Presently, however, the Eleventh Massachusetts Battery, and
Companies C and I, of the Fifth United States Artillery, succeeded in getting their guns ready, and opened upon the jubilant
enemy, who was apparently having everything his own way, except
the seizure of Fort Haskell.  The interruption occasioned by this
increased cannonading to the onward movements of the rebels,




BATTERY C-(THIRD ARTILLERY).                703
fortunately allowed our skirmishers a breathing spell, while also
enabling the troops who had been driven from their tents to form
and assist them, but our position  was still far from  secure.
Soon, however, a fresh Division was advanced against the foe, and
after a desperate contest, in which all the batteries within reach
participated, the enemy began to waver, then to break, and finally
sought shelter in Fort Steadman and the two redoubts on its flank,
whence, however, he was speedily driven with immense loss, the
men being followed with a pitiless fire until they gained the shelter
of their own embankments.  Our victory was complete, the enemy
losing some two thousand and three handred in prisoners, over
four hundred of whom were wounded; and to no command was
the success more largely due than to the Third Battery. Its casualties amounted to one man killed, and two commissioned officers and
five men wounded.
On the 29th of March the rebels again assailed Forts Steadman
and Haskell, but the battery sustained no casualties, though actively
engaged. During the final struggle, from the 1st to the 4th of
April, it was stationed in Fort Haskell, moving on the 5th into
Petersburg, and thence moving with the army in pursuit of the
foe, reaching Ford's Station on the 7th, where it remained until
the 14th. Then proceeding to Wilson's Station, it remained until
the 20th, when it commenced the return march, on the 22d reaching City Point, whence it departed on the 30th for Washington.
The battery was mustered out June 19, 1865. During its term of
service, Major Woerner was frequently complimented by his superiors and the State authorities upon the efficiency of his command,
and its distinguished services on critical fields fully justified the
high eulogiums bestowed upon it.




CHAPTER XXXVIII.
BATTERY D-(Fourth Artillery).
THIS battery, which achieved a high reputation by its distinguished services, was recruited  principally  in Essex, Mercer and
Monmouth Counties.  The first detachment of recruits went into
quarters at Camp Perrine, at Trenton, under charge of Sergeant
John Otto, about the middle of August, 1863-just after the terrible battle of Gettysburg, when the whole country, awakened to a
fresh appreciation of the necessity of energetic action, was addressing itself with enthusiasm  to the work of supplying three hundred
thousand additional volunteers, as called for by the President. The
quota of New  Jersey under this call included three batteries of
light artillery, in addition to two previously furnished by the State.
This branch of the service having always been the favorite with
recruits and veterans alike, little difficulty was experienced in filling
the ranks of the artillery, notwithstanding several regiments of
infantry and one of cavalry were at the same time in process of
formation.'
1 The following were the officers of Battery D, from the muster in to the muster out
of the organization:
Captain, George T. Woodbury, of Newark. Served as Second Lieutenant in the First
Regiment New Jersey Militia, during the first three months' campaign. Commissioned
Second Lieutenant of Beam's Battery (B), September 3, 1861; after Captain Beam was
killed at Malvern Hill, was promoted (in August, 1862) to First Lieutenant. In August
1863, he was commissioned Captain of Battery D, which position he held until he was
injured by a fall from his horse at Bermuda Hundred, Virginia, which, together with
the debilitating effect of the climate, rendered it necessary for him to resign his commission, in August, 1864. He was soon after appointed Inspector in the United States
Ordnance Department, and stationed at Springfield, Massachusetts. In this capacity
he served until the close of the war.
Captain Charles R. Doane, of Spottswood, New Jersey. Served in the New York
Marine Artillery, during the first year of the war, as Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant and Captain, in North Carolina. Resigned in June, 1863; and accepted the
commission of First Lieutenant in Battery D, which position he held until the resigna



BATTERY  D-(FOURTH  ARTILLERY).                         705
Batteries C, D and E went into camp at Camp Perrine, and left
for Washington, almost simultaneously.   Battery  D, taking its
name from  its commandant, was at that time more familiarly known
as " Woodbury's Battery," and subsequently as the " Fourth New
Jersey Battery," being so reported at the War Department and
tion of Captain Woodbury, when he became Captain of the battery. Was mustered
as such at Chapin's Farm, in front of Richmond, in October, 1864.
First Lieutenant James B. Morris, of Freehold, New Jersey. Enlisted as a private
in Beam's Battery (B), September 3, 1861; remained with the battery up to the time of
the seven days' battles in front of Richmond, on the Peninsula, under McClellan; was
taken prisoner at Malvern Hills during the battle, and rescued with about two hundred
others, on the field, by a cavalry charge of a Pennsylvania regiment on the Confederate
guard. Reached James river, at Harrison's Landing, on the 3d of July, having eaten
nothing during five days and nights of marching and fighting, except two cakes of
"hard tack."  Was sent north on a hospital boat, very ill, and entirely exhausted.
Upon his final recovery, was commissioned Second Lieutenant of Battery D. Took
command of Camp Perrine about 25th of August, 1863, and continued in command
until relieved by superior officers a few weeks afterward. Commissioned First Lieutenant in December, 1863, which position he held until the muster out of the battery.
First Lieutenant Reuben V. King, of Olean, New York. Enlisted as a private in the
Eighty-fifth New York Volunteers, afterward received the commissions successively of
Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant, Captain and Major, in the same regiment; commanded the regiment, with the rank of Major, seventeen months. Served through
McClellan's Peninsula campaign, was wounded at Fair Oaks, and resigned his commission of Major, after participating in the battles on the Blackwater river, in Virginia,
and Kingston and Goldsboro, in North Carolina. Enlisted as a private in Battery
D, in September, 1863; was appointed Corporal; afterwards Sergeant, Sergeant-Major
of the post, Second Lieutenant and First Lieutenant, which rank he held on the muster out of the battery.
Second Lieutenant Thompson B. Pollard, of Newark. Enlisted as a private in
Beam's Battery (B), September 3, 1861; and was appointed Corporal, which position
he held until November, 1863, participating in all the campaigns in which the Army of
the Potomac was engaged during that time, when he was promoted to be Second Lieutenant of Battery D. Resigned his commission at Washington, in February, 1864.
Second Lieutenant John H. George, of Newark. Enlisted as a private in Beam's
Battery (B), September 3, 1861. Appointed Corporal, January, 1862. Appointed Sergeant after the Peninsula campaign. Commissioned Second Lieutenant of Battery D,
December, 1863. Declined further promotion, which was offered him, and resigned
his commission at Chapin's Farm, in front of Richmond, Virginia, December, 1864.
Second Lieutenant David A. Pollard, of Newark. Enlisted as a private in Battery
D; appointed Quartermaster's Sergeant, which position he held until January, 1865,
when he was commissioned Second Lieutenant, and held that rank until the muster
out of the battery.
Second Lieutenant Morris C. Cole, of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Served in the New
York Marine Artillery as private, Corporal and Sergeant; afterwards appointed Hospital Steward and Assistant-Surgeon to the fleet at Newbern, North Carolina. Enlisted
in Battery D on its organization, as a private; was appointed First Sergeant, which
position he held until he received an appointment in the War Department. Commissioned Second Lieutenant of Battery D, January, 1865. Attached temporarily for
duty to Battery D, First United States Artillery. Accompanied that battery to Texas,
and was mustered out of service at New Orleans, Louisiana, in June, 1865.
89




706            NEW  JERSEY AND THIE REBELLIOn.
carried on its rolls.  Reaching Washington on the 30th of September, 1863, the battery, after a night's rest proceeded to Camp
Barry, the artillery camp of instruction, about a mile northeast of
the Capitol, on the Bladensburg road, where, upon reporting to the
commandant of the post, quarters were assigned for the officers and
men.  The month of October was occupied in dismounted drills; a
battery of six twelve-pounder bronze Napoleon guns, with horses,
harness and equipments complete, was then issued to the command
from the Washington Arsenal, and the men entered upon the more
direct work of preparing for the campaign of the coming summerthe entire winter being diligently employed in active drill. At
one time during the winter, thirty-three batteries were gathered
at Camp Barry, and the weekly reviews and parades were very
attractive and interesting. Members of Congress and of the Cabinet were frequently present on these occasions, and expressed their
satisfaction, not only at the grandeur of the display, but also with
the perfection to which this most important arm of the service had
been brought.2  Indeed, at this time, all the troops around Washington had been brought, under the vigorous command of General
Grant, into an admirable state of discipline, and were prepared as
they had never been before for service in the field.
On the 16th of April, orders were issued for three of the batteries-Fourth New Jersey, Captain Woodbury, Fifth New Jersey,
Captain Warren, and the Thirty-third New York, Captain Wheeler
-to hold themselves in readiness to march at an hour's notice.
Every arrangement was immediately made to comply with the
order, but it was not until the night of the 22d that positive orders
were received.  On the following morning the battery left camp,
and with the bugles sounding a farewell march, moved out to the
work before it.
Embarking on a waiting steamer, the battery proceeded down
the Potomac, and on Sunday morning, the 24th, reached Fortress
Monroe, where directions were received from  General Butler to
2 General Barry, after an inspection of the camp on the 8th of October, said he " had
not seen a more soldierly or better looking body of men, since the beginning of the
war, than the Third, Fourth and Fifth New Jersey Batteries."




BATTERY D-(FOURTH ARTILLERY).                707
report at Yorktown for orders. During the afternoon, the battery
was disembarked at Gloucester Point, and went into camp on the
bluff, that point having been designated as the rendezvous of the
Tenth Army Corps, to which the Fourth and Fifth Batteries were
assigned.  The greater part of the corps was brought up from the
vicinity of James and Morris Islands, and Newbern, North Carolina.  The Eighteenth Army Corps was in rendezvous on the
opposite side of the James River. The two corps were destined to
operate in unison, though this fact was not then generally anticipated. On the 3d of May the troops of the Tenth were all embarked
on transports, and at daybreak on the morning of the 4th, the
entire fleet was in motion.  It was a magnificent sight.  The
weather was clear and fine, the air balmy and full of the pleasant
odors of spring, and the Roads covered with craft of every
description-transports loaded  down with troops and batteries,
floating docks, pontoons, gunboats and monitors, all with flags
flying and bands playing, presented a spectacle which inspired all
beholders with animation and pleasure.
It was generally supposed that, since it would be impossible to
entirely deceive the enemy, the expedition would, at least after
passing up the river some fifty miles, encounter opposition; and as
the fleet advanced, the interest and speculation of the troops became
almost painfully intense. About three o'clock in the afternoon,
Fort Powhatan, or "Fort Nonsense," as it was called in army
parlance, was reached, but although an excellent position for a
stubborn resistance, not a shot was fired.  A regiment was quickly
landed below, and another above the fort, and by a rapid flank
movement to the rear of the works, three hundred rebels, huddled
within the fort, were taken prisoners without offering the slightest
resistance. The gunboats as they advanced, presently commenced
to shell the woods on either side of the river, in some places setting the timber on fire and causing serious damage.  Soon after
leaving Fort Powhatan, rebel scouts were discovered, lurking here
and there among the trees and undergrowth along the banks. A
few miles further on, Harrison's Landing was reached. Here a post
was established and a body of troops landed. Five miles further




708           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
up, City Point was quietly occupied, the National ensign being
lifted to the breeze in the place of a rebel flag which the troops,
upon landing, found defiantly flying.
City Point is situated on the east bank of the Appomattox
river, at its junction with the James, and before the war was a village of some pretentious. It was the terminus of a railroad from
Petersburg, and large amounts of cotton and tobacco had been
shipped from  its wharves. A few regiments only were landed
here, the main portion of the troops being disembarked at Bermuda
Hundred, on the west side of the Appomattox, and further up the
James.  The steamer Eagle, which carried the horses and a portion
of the men of the Fourth Battery, was one of the first to reach the
temporary dock (which the Ninth New Jersey Infantry had assisted to construct), and by five o'clock the battery was disembarked
-the men of the Fourth being thus the first artillerymen on shore.
It was expected that an immediate movement would be made
towards Richmond, which was only twelve miles distant, and was
garrisoned by only one thousand reserve militia, as was satisfactorily ascertained to be the fact. The Ninth New Jersey and several
other regiments were sent out as skirmishers, and advanced for
about eight miles without encountering any opposition, the rebels
being taken completely by surprise. Recovering, however, from
their surprise, they forwarded as speedily as possible all the available troops in Richmond and Petersburg, and a severe engagement
took place along the line of the railroad, many being killed and
wounded on both sides. During the battle of Drury's Bluff, the
Fourth New Jersey was in reserve.
The first action in which the Fourth New Jersey was engaged,
occurred on the 10th of May. The battery was stationed behind
temporary breastworks, having occupied that position during the
whole of the previous night. An order being received from headquarters to send a section of the battery to the front, Captain
Woodbury detailed Lieutenant George for that duty, and about
three o'clock in the morning that officer reported, with his section,
to Major Butler for out-post duty. A point on the Richmond and
Petersburg turnpike was designated.  Here the guns were placed




BATTERY D-(FOURTH ARTILLERY).                709
"in battery," bearing directly upon the road, and were supported
by two companies of the One Hundred and Sixty-ninth New York
Volunteers. Everything remained comparatively quiet until after
daybreak, when the enemy, appreciating the importance of the
position, suddenly made a dash from the thick undergrowth on the
guns, in overwhelming numbers, from both flanks and front. It
was a most critical moment, but Lieutenant George was fully equal
to the emergency.  The numbers of the enemy were too great to
be resisted, and the cannoneers were literally forced away from
their guns by the mass of assailants who swarmed in upon them.
The pieces were worked as rapidly as possible, but nevertheless the
enemy obtained possession of one of the guns. But they paid
dearly for the prize. The Lieutenant and his men, with doubleshotted charges of canister and shrapnel, piled up the dead in
heaps within a few  yards of the muzzles of the guns.  The
wounded in this affair were Lieutenant John H. George, arm,
thigh and leg; Sergeant John WV. Penn, arm; Corporal William
Cairnes, breast; Private Cavalier, arm; Willett, arm; Bush, thigh;
Collins, foot; Akers, hand.  No one was killed.  Five horses
were shot, which prevented the removal of the gun captured by
the enemy.  At this most important moment the lanyards were
broken, or carried off by the wounded men, when Lieutenant
George seized a piece of telegraph wire, fortunately lying close by,
bent it on one end to form a hook, and used it with decided effect.
Lieutenant George retired finally with his remaining gun, and
afterwards, with the assistance of the Seventh Connecticut Infantry,
succeeded in retaking the lost piece, and returned to the intrenchments about four o'clock, p. m., where his men were welcomed
with hearty cheers by the remainder of the battery. Jefferson
Yaudle, a cannoneer of the captured gun, aged only seventeen
years, after his piece was lost, picked up a Spencer rifle, fell in with
the infantry, and fought with them for more than an hour, until
opportunity offered for the capture of the lost gun, when he joined
in the charge that recovered it.
The whole army now proceeded to intrench itself in the position
which it had occupied.  Circumstances pointed very plainly to




710           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
the fact that, as the armies of Grant and Lee were working their
way southward, the locality of Bermuda Hundred would become
the scene of more active hostilities.  Bermuda Hundred is a
peninsula formed by the junction of the James and Appomattox
Rivers, and was one of the best military positions, as a base, on
the continent. Both flanks and the rear were protected by the
navy, but the army had about four miles of intrenchments to
build across the immediate front, to complete the defenses of the
position. The forts, which were numbered from the right of the
line, commencing at the James River, opposite Dutch Gap, and
extending across to Point of Rocks, on the Appomattox, were
connected by high breastworks for the infantry.  In front of the
main line, at intervals, was a disconnected chain of redoubts,
which served to strengthen the main line.
Battery Number Four, afterwards named Battery Marshall (in
honor of Colonel Marshall, of New York, who fell at Cold Harbor), was located at about an equal distance between the two rivers,
and at a salient angle with the main line. In front of this position
was a clear, level field; the only level ground along the whole line.
The surface of the ground on both flanks of this field was cut up
by ravines and hills and tangled woods, so that the enemy saw at
once that Battery Marshall was the key to our position, and determined accordingly to possess themselves of it, if possible. At that
time the Fourth Battery was attached to the First Brigade, Second
Division of the Tenth Corps. Colonel Barton, of the Forty-eighth
New York, commanded the brigade, General Turner the division
and General Gilmore the corps. It was ordered that the "best
batteries" should be placed in Battery Marshall, and the Fourth
New Jersey and Battery M, First United States Artillery, were
assigned to that position.  The Fourth remained there over three
months, but Battery M was withdrawn, after a few days, and Battery E, Third United States Artillery, substituted.
Lieutenant Morris' section first took position on the open field
where Battery Marshall was afterwards erected, on the 9th of May,
the day before the fight on the turnpike, and on the 18th of May,
the entire battery was ordered to that point. At that time there




BATTERY D-(FOURTH ARTILLERY).                 11i
was a slight breastwork about two feet high. The men immediately went to work, with shovel and pick, to strengthen their position, and labored steadily until about eleven o'clock at night, when
they were suddenly assailed by a volley of musketry, accompanied
by a chorus of yells. Instantly every man sprang to his post, and
with a rapidity and precision at once surprising and effective,
poured a storm  of shrapnel and canister into the approaching
columns of the enemy. But the assailants were not to be thus
shaken in their purpose. On they came, on the " double quick,"
filling the air with their threatening yells, but with their lines broken and the field strewed with their killed and wounded.  Still
they did not pause, but steadily continued their advance in the face
of a withering fire, which had increased in severity as other batteries on the right and left of Battery Marshall came into position,
and the infantry manned the breastworks.  Then, at last, the storm
of iron, hail and fire became insufferable. Our pickets had been
forced back to the counterscarp of the ditch, and the enemy had
got within two hundred yards of our main line, when a simultaneous volley from  all our artillery and infantry caused them
to recoil and fly in dismay. Halting, however, at an elevation
some seven hundred yards distant from our line, they threw up
intrenchments, and there, afterwards, established their main line.
The officers and men of the Fourth Battery were complimented
by General Ames and General Gilmore, who were present during
the action, for their services on this occasion. and it was probably
their behavior on that day that decided the commanding officer to
retain the battery in the post of danger and honor.  Captain
Woodbury, and Lieutenants Doane, Morris, George and King,
were exposed to full view of the rebel riflemen, but all escaped
unharmed.  General Ames and Captain Woodbury stood in an
elevated position during the charge, watching the movements of
the enemy through field-glasses, and exposing themselves to what
seemed almost certain death.  Shot and shell fell all around, but
still there was only one man killed. After the rebels fell back
and reached their line, their artillery opened fire on Battery Marshall.  Lieutenant Morris, commanding the left section, was stand



712            NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
ing on the trail of one of his guns, looking towards the enemy,
when a canister shot, fired at a high elevation, grazed his left
shoulder and passed through the head of Sergeant James 0. Iale,
who was standing directly behind him. Hale was killed instantly,
his brains spattering over the Lieutenant and others who stood
near.  The same shot slightly wounded Privates Cornelius VanPatten and Charles More.  After that, it was impossible to work
upon the intrenchments during the day, as the enemy fired at
every person unthinkingly exposed above the works. The horses
were removed to the rear, and every precaution taken to prevent
surprise. As soon as night appeared, however, the men plied the
intrenching tools again-stopping only a few  minutes for a cup
of coffee-knowing well that on the morrow  a more strenuous
effort would be made by the rebels to dislodge them."  Not a word
was spoken above a whisper, and nothing could be heard but the
dull sound of shovel and pick, throwing up the earth, and adding
to the gradually growing embankment, which was to be the main
hope of the toilers. Everything remained in this condition until
about midnight, when suddenly there arose again that wild, deafening rebel yell, immediately followed by a discharge from about
twenty field pieces, which they had placed in position since nightfall.  The night was intensely dark, and it was useless to attempt
to " sight " the guns before firing. The effect of the flashing of
the score of field guns and the thousands of muskets on the rebel
side, was grandly beautiful.  Our cannoneers sprang to their posts
at the first intimation of danger; but were unable to direct their
fire with any precision, until one of our shells struck  a rebel
caisson and exploded it, causing a vivid stream of light to flame
up the sky, which served to show the position of the enemy in
3 The intrenchments in the vicinity of Batteries Three, Four and Five, and the
redoubts in advance of the main line, were built under the supervision of Lieutenant
C. B. Parsons, of the First New York Engineers, and it was owing, in a great measure,
to Lieutenant Parsons' skill, courage and coolness under fire that the works were made
to resist the continued bombardments to which they were subjected. He is a native
of Middletown, New Jersey. Lieutenant Parsons was commissioned Captain in his
regiment, and afterwards Brevet-Major of Volunteers by the President, in acknowledgement of his services.




BATTERY D-(FOURTH ARTILLERY).                      713
front.  They had reached our picket line, and were advancing
rapidly. The battery gunners had up to this time been firing too
high, but the friendly light of the exploding caisson enabled them
to bring their pieces to bear directly on the moving mass of men
in front.  A few  well-directed, double-shotted rounds of canister
from all the batteries, with repeated discharges of musketry, and
the rebels again hastily retired in confusion to their works. But
there was no sleep nor rest, that night, for either army; a sharp
picket fire was kept up until daybreak, when the artillery firing
was resumed and continued during the day.4  A Petersburg paper
of the following  day  admitted  that the Confederates lost six
hundred men, killed and wounded, in the midnight charge, and
by way of palliating their reverse, stated that " the Yankee loss
was much greater."
Thus affairs continued  for more than two weeks, the rebels
endeavoring in vain to possess themselves of the Federal line of
works.  Not a day dawned that did not witness a reckless charge
and a bloody repulse; not a night threw its dark mantle over the
combatants but discovered, at daybreak, some new redoubt, breastwork, or an advanced line of rifle-pits differing from those of the
day before.  For three weeks the men did not obtain three hours'
sleep in any single night, nor did they dare remove their clothing or
equipments; and when not toiling with the pick and spade, were
working the guns, until, finally, they became almost completely
exhausted.  Now they must pay the penalty of the reputation they
had achieved.  Other batteries were on reserve, and could relieve
the Fourth New  Jersey, for a few  days, while they recruited in
4 Towards daybreak the men of Lieutenant Morris' section lay down for a few moments, on a large canvas "paulin," on the ground, to endeavor to get a little rest. They
were fast goingto sleep, when, there appearing to be signs of a movement on the rebel
line, the Lieutenant awoke his men, to prepare for any emergency. Just as the men
had arisen from the ground, and walked off to their guns, a rifled shell from the enemy
grazed the top of the parapet, and struck the ground on the exact spot where the
detachment had lain. Had they remained there half a minute longer, it would have
killed every one of them. This awakened them thoroughly, and they set to work to
build a "traverse," to protect themselves as much as possible. Corporal Aaron I.
McKinstry was shot in the groin an hour later, while superintending the work, and
died the next day. Corporal McKinstry was a college graduate, and a good soldier.
90




714          NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
strength for other combats. But to this proposition the Commanding General would not listen. The position was one of such vital
importance that he would not trust any but those who had proved
themselves worthy of the honor, and who were familiar with the' range" of the situation, and from that fact could throw their first
shots to strike where they intended, and check any advance of the
enemy at its commencement.
Finally, the works had grown to such formidable dimensions
that the enemy appeared to have abandoned the idea of attempting
their capture. Small squads of our cannoneers were accordingly
allowed to go to the rear to wash and change their clothing and
obtain a little rest-and thus recuperation was at last had from the
fatiguing labors so long and effectually performed.
In the early part of June an order was received to send all the
troops that could be spared from Bermuda Hundred, to join the
Army of the Potomac, then on the line of the South Anna.  The
entire Eighteenth Corps, and two divisions of the Tenth Corps
were moved off quietly in the night, to the aid of Grant and Meade,
leaving only one division of infantry and a large proportion of the
artillery to hold the line. The Eighteenth and the two divisions
of the Tenth embarked at Bermuda Hundred on transports, and
were conveyed down the James and up the York River; disem.
barked at West Point, and joined Meade's Army at Cold Harbor.
They were in action with the enemy several days, and lost heavily.
In the meantime, the little band left at Bermuda Hundred were
exercising the utmost vigilance. For a period of two weeks they
were almost entirely defenceless. Obliged to hold a line of four
miles in extent, it required their entire force to repel an attack at
any one point.  Happily, the enemy were in ignorance of this fact,
and did not attempt any demonstration against any point but
Battery Marshall. Had they known the weakness of our army at
any time during those two important weeks, they might easily
have pierced our lines, captured the entire force, and carried away
or destroyed the immense commissary stores accumulated at Bermuda Landing and City Point  It was one of those necessary
risks which are sometimes dictated by the highest policy, and




BATTERY  D-(FOURTH  ARTILLERY).                        715
involve, though all unknown, the fate of battles and of nations."
Nightly, the guns of the contending armies at Cold Harbor could
be plainly heard, volley after volley following close together.  The
interest manifested by that little army in the coming developments
was intense.  Nearer and nearer, heavier and  louder came  the
sounds of conflict as night after night and day after day slipped
away, and it was a relief to that band of beleaguered patriots to
know  that the awful suspense would soon be over.  Better, far
better the clash and peril of actual combat than this crazing uncertainty.
The pickets in front of Battery Marshall had now become quite
sociable, and mutually agreed to cease picket firing, except when
an advance was made on either side.  This good feeling existed
until the morning of the 16th of June,6 when our videttes reported
the enemy's line evacuated.  An advance was immediately made,
and six men were found asleep in the rebel bomb-proofs.  They
said they were left there to walk the top of the parapet, and keep
up the appearance of a force, while the army had gone to Peterss " The position was held by strategy; the bands were kept playing inspiriting airs,
a few regiments would be sent to the rear quietly, and then come marching up to the
front making as much noise as possible, and would be received with hearty cheers by
the troops in the works; the guns in Battery Marshall would open a furious cannonade,
and there would be a general stirring up every few hours; all of which was duly noted
and reported by the rebel pickets and videttes."-Letter of Captain J. B. M3orreis.
G One fine Sunday evening, during the cessation of picket firing, when the opposing
armies had become comparatively sociable, the Union and rebel intrenchments were
covered with spectators, each silently observing the figures slowly pacing up and
down and sitting in groups on the other side. The sun had set, and the day was fast
merging into the soft glamour of a Southern twilight. Sunday evening-and the soldiers were thinking of other Sunday evenings in their far-off homes, and of the dear
ones they might never see again. All feeling of fierce strife and contention which the
battle field engenders had gone out from their hearts for the moment, as they sat
there in the gathering shades. Suddenly a strain of old familiar music floated through
the air; "Old Hundred"-sweet, full and plaintive-came from a rebel band on their
picket line, accompanied with a chorus of manly voices. Our men rose up and stood
listening, and before they hardly knew it found themselves joining in the chorus. And
thus for half an hour the pickets of the two armies, who for months had been endeav
oring to destroy each other, were on this hallowed eve joining their voices and hearts
in a song of praise to God. It was an event which will never be forgotten by those
who witnessed it. It was a white hour in those years of bloody war that one remembers with a thrill of pleasure.
The next morning that same band was playing the " Bonnie Blue Flag," the pickets
under some pretext commenced firing, and the work of death went on.




716          NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
burg to meet the advance of Meade's army. Being left alone, they
went to sleep. They belonged to the Twenty-second and Twentythird South Carolina Volunteers. As soon as the fact of the evacuation was known at General Terry's headquarters, two brigades
were sent out with shovels, and in a few hours had leveled the
deserted works to the ground.
By this time Grant's army, having crossed the James, was
coming up in the rear of the position so bravely defended, and
Lee's army was pouring in on the front by way of Richmond.
The entire force of the Bermuda Hundred army, under General
Terry, immediately made an advance, and encountered the advance
of Lee's army near the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad. After
a sharp engagement, Terry, being hard pressed by superior numbers, withdrew to his intrenchments. On the same day, the first
line of the Petersburg intrenchments was attacked by the Second
and Eighteenth Army Corps, and many prisoners and eighteen
pieces of artillery captured. A detail of the men of the Fourth
Battery, with their horses, under command of Lieutenant King,
was sent to Petersburg, to bring the captured guns to Bermuda
Hundred.  This was successfully accomplished without the loss of
a man, although the enemy directed especial attention to the men
while the guns were being removed.
On the afternoon of the day following the evacuation of the
enemy's works, and the advance of Terry, the rebels came down
suddenly in strong force, under command of General Pickett, of
the Army of Northern Virginia, and by a rapid movement captured many of our videttes, drove in the remainder, and possessed
themselves of their former line, and without halting, charged across
the open field in front of Battery Marshall in fine style, seven
regiments front and four deep. Our pickets gave way, and retired
to the ditch, or concealed themselves as best they could. Then all
the batteries on the Union line opened, and the Third Division of
the Sixth Corps having arrived during the morning, the infantry
quickly manned the breastworks, and poured a galling fire into
the advancing ranks of gray.  The rebels fought with the greatest
bravery, and pressed forward with a stubborn pertinacity worthy a




BATTERY  ) —(FOURTH ARTILLERY).                      717
better cause.'They were the men who had fought through  the
Wilderness, and were desperate and reckless; but it was impossible
for anything human to stand before that storm of shell and bullets,
and before reaching the "slashing" they  turned  and fled.   A
prisoner, taken by our pickets, stated that the rebel General Pickett,
of South Carolina, was in command of the attacking force, and
that he was much intoxicated, and swore he "would  take that
Yankee  battery  if it cost him  half his men "-meaning  Battery Marshall.   During this action, the battery  was supported by
the Fourteenth New Jersey Volunteers, which was attached to the
Third Division, Sixth Corps.7
All eyes were now  directed to Petersburg.  There the grand
armies were gathering in force, and there, it now  seemed certain,
the final and decisive struggle was to take place. On the night of
the 25th of July, the Second Corps, which lay in the rear of the
army at Petersburg, was rapidly and quietly moved across to Bermuda Hundred, and without halting, pushed forward  to Jones'
Neck, and crossed the James River at that point. At daylight,
the old Third Corps (now attached to the Second) charged the rebel
intrenchments, taking them at the point of the bayonet, and capturing ten pieces of artillery and a large number of prisoners.
The loss on our side was forty men killed and wounded. Three of
the guns were twenty-pounder rifles, and were captured  by the
rebels from Ashby's New York Battery, during the attack on Fort
Darling, in May.  A  sufficient force was left to hold the position
and the corps returned to the main army in front of Petersburg.
On the night of August 14th, the Fourth Battery received orders
to "be ready to march in one hour."  This was a difficult task,
"During the following summer, the enemy made frequent attempts to obtain possession of the line of works at Bermuda Hundred, failing, however, in every attempt.
At intervals a tacit understanding existed between the pickets, all firing was suspended, and a general system of bartering of tobacco, coffee, papers, etc., was carried on
between the respective sides. Then, some recruit who had but lately joined his regiment, and on his first day on picket, would fire at the first gray-jacket lie saw. That
would end the truce for several days, and curses loud and deep came from the other
side because'you'uns fired when you'uns promised not to.' Of course, it would be
a long time before the luckless recruit would hear the last of the result of his nervousness, from his teazing comrades."-Letter of Lieutenant MLorris.




718           NEW JERSEY Afib THE REBELLtOX.
for the ammunition chests of the battery were stored in the magazine at Battery Marshall, and the caisson camp, with the drivers
and horses were two miles to the rear. The night was clear and
quiet, and it was necessary to use the utmost caution in removing
the guns from the embrasures, and mounting the heavy chests filled
with ammunition, to avoid attracting the attention of the enemy.
One section of Battery E, Third United States Artillery, was left in
the fort, and about midnight the Fourth New Jersey reported to
Colonel McGilvery, Chief of Artillery, for orders. This was destined to be a trial which would test the metal of the battery to its
utmost. The entire Tenth and Second Corps were in motion, except the artillery, all of that arm remaining in position, except the
Fourth New Jersey, Battery D, First United States Artillery, and
two sections of Battery E, Third United States Artillery.
Early on the morning of the 15th, the troops crossed the river,
on the pontoon bridge, and engaged the enemy about two miles
from the river. During the day, the Tenth Corps captured four
siege guns, three howitzers, and a large number of prisoners.
Lieutenant-General Grant was present, and was under fire during
the greater portion of the day. At one time he sat down on the
door-step of an old deserted house, rested his head between his
hands, and with his body bowed, for nearly an hour remained
alone, apparently entirely oblivious to everything but his own
thoughts.  Who knows but that the fate of this great Republic,
humanly speaking, may have been decided during that hour of
anxious thought!  All this time the artillery was booming, the
shell crashing through the thick woods, and an uninterrupted rattle of musketry added to the tumult, as charge after charge was
renewed, and positions lost and won. Finally darkness came on,
and the firing gradually ceased. But there was, that night, no
rest for the weary troops. The artillery was posted in convenient
positions " in battery," to check any advance of the enemy, and
about midnight the troops recrossed the river at Jones' Neck,
moved half a mile further down, and again crossed to the north
side on another bridge, making there a brief pause for rest. This
was on Sunday morning. By eight o'clock the column was again




BATTERY I)-(FOURTH ARTILLERY).               719
in motion, and advanced steadily towards Richmond until about
ten o'clock, when the enemy's pickets were encountered on a hill,
at the edge of a thick growth of timber. The pickets retired without firing, and joined their main force, which was strongly intrenched. The Fourth Battery was immediately put in position on
the hill, and shelled the woods in front. The rebels at once replied
with a battery of artillery, while a host of sharpshooters posted in
the trees, picked off the cannoneers so rapidly that at times the
guns could scarcely be served.  But the men of the Fourth stood
up to their work nobly, and by concentrating the fire of the whole
battery on the rebels, their guns were finally silenced.  Three of
the officers were injured by the missiles of the enemy within a few
minutes after the beginning of the action. Lieutenant Morris was
struck by three fragments of a shrapnel shell, and stunned, but
recovered so as to be able to resume his duties within half an hour.
Lieutenant George had two of his ribs broken by a bullet from a
shrapnel shell, which was found imbedded in a small copy of the
New Testament, in his left-side pocket.  Lieutenant King, at the
time acting as aid to Colonel McGilvery, Chief of Artillery, received a bullet wound in the left arm, while riding across a field to
carry an order to the battery. He did not, however, leave his saddle. Lieutenant George, although seriously injured, insisted on
staying with his section until the action was over. Colonel MeGilvery was wounded in the second finger of the left hand, and while
having it amputated a few days afterwards, died under the influence of ether.
On Monday, the day following, Lieutenant Morris was placed in
a position with one section, about half a mile to the right of the
remainder of the battery, and at a point where the rebel rifle-pits
were not more than two hundred yards from his front and about
the same distance from his right flank. The guns were moved
noiselessly through a deep, narrow ravine, and then pushed up the
hill so that the range of the pieces but just cleared the ground,
while their presence was concealed from the enemy. Lieutenant
Doane, who was in command of the four guns left at the position
of the action of Sunday, now opened fire, upon which the entire




720           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
force of the artillery directed their shots at one point, Lieutenant
Morris firing at nearly right angles with the other batteries. Under cover of this cannonade, the Second Division of the Tenth Corps
charged the rebel works, and captured thirteen hundred prisoners
and several battle-flags. A rebel battery was observed trying to
get into position in front, but the storm of shot and shell struck
down the men and horses, and completely disabled their guns.
The Fourth Battery, during the morning, fired one thousand and
five hundred rounds of ammunition. Lieutenant Doane, seeing so
many of his men go down before the fire of the sharpshooters posted in trees, threw off his coat and hat, seized a "sponge-staff,"
and performed the duties of " Number One," until the firing ceased,
awakening the confidence and admiration of all who witnessed
the deed.
At one time during the forenoon of Monday, Lieutenant Morris'
position became most critical.  The enemy was closing in on his
section, and his infantry support had not arrived.  To add to the
difficulties of the situation, his ammunition was giving out, the
guns were over-heated so as to cause several premature explosions,
and the enemy preparing to charge his pieces.  But his orders
were imperative-to hold that position at all hazards.  He hastily
tore a piece of card from  an ammunition box, and wrote with
a pencil: "Lieutenant Doane: Send me some ammunition-all
you can-and I'll hold this line. The rebels are crowding meLieutenant Morris."  An orderly was dispatched with this at his
highest speed. A quarter of an hour passed. The rebels made an
attempt to advance; but a few rounds of double-shotted canister
deterred them. It was evident they were massing in front.  The
ammunition was nearly gone. What a world of hope and fears
were crowded into those perilous moments. Then there came a
joyous shout, and in a few minutes the heavy boxes of fixed ammunition were carried by willing hands to the smoking guns. The
position was saved, and confidence restored.  The enemy did,
indeed, attempt another charge, but his opportunity was lost, and
utter failure crowned the effort. The following are the principal
casualties sustained by the battery: Lieutenant J. B. Morris,




BATTERY D-(FOURTH ARTILLERY).                   721
stunned by shell; Lieutenant J. I. George, ribs fractured; Lieutenant R. V. King, arm; Sergeant John O'Brien, leg, afterwards
died; Corporal John Van Gieson, leg; Corporal Frank Wilcox,
abdomen, afterwards died; Corporal James H. Blake, leg; Anthony
K. Wright, shoulder; George W. Marshall, thigh; A. Flanders,
leg; James M. Martin, arm shot off; Patrick Callaghan, arm  shot
off; John McAllister, hip; Jacob Schilt, thumb shot off; Jeremiah
Creed, thumb; Henry Jaques, side and head; Frederick Dubbitt,
groin; Peter Applegate, ankle; George W. Hays, ear.  The battery also lost twelve horses killed.
In this engagement, Lieutenant Morris, according to the testimony of his commanding officer, behaved with the utmost gallantry, managing his section with marked deliberation and coolness, right under the eyes of the rebel sharpshooters, who sought
in vain to shoot him  down.   The conduct of officers and men
throughout the entire affair was such as to call forth the hearty
commendation of the Chief of Artillery, Colonel McGilvery.'
The object of this movement was to attract General Lee's attention from Petersburg as much as possible, in order to facilitate a
movement of the army of the Potomac on the Weldon Railroad,
south of Petersburg.  This piece of strategy had its effect.  General Lee, apprehensive for the safety of Richmond, sent a large
force to engage the Tenth and Second Corps; in the meantime,
General Grant carried out his plans successfully.
The battery remained in the vicinity of Deep Run and Malvern
Hills seven days, and then returned to Battery Marshall, at Bermuda Hundred.  The following morning the rebels attacked the
picket line in front of the battery, and quite a skirmish ensued,
resulting in the repulse of the attacking party. That afternoon, a
deserter reported that the enemy was attempting to undermine the
fort.  General Foster thereupon ordered Lieutenant Morris to
8 Lieutenant-Colonel William A. Conover, Medical Director of the Tenth Corps, and
Assistant-Surgeon Joseph W. Hayward (afterwards breveted Major), the medical attendant of the Fourth Battery, deserves special mention for the fearless and faithful man
ner in which they performed their duties while under fire of the enemy, working for
the relief of the unfortunate wounded until they were themselves almost exhausted.
91




722           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
remove the guns about one hundred yards to the rear, place wooden
"Quakers " in the embrasures, and leave the guidon flying on the
parapet, which was done. But no explosion took place. On the
following day the Eighteenth Corps relieved the Tenth at Bermuda
Hundred, the Tenth proceeding to Petersburg. The battery here
shared in all the perils pertaining to that remarkable seige, being
stationed in Fort Morton, in front of the rebel Fort Mahone, which
was mined and blown up in the early part of the summer.
On the 2Sth of September, the grand strategic movement by which
General Grant transferred the Tenth and Eighteenth Corps to the
north side of the James, and placed a heavy menacing column
before the Confederate Capital, was commenced. A portion of the
third line of the Richmond defences was captured, with sixteen
pieces of artillery and a large number of prisoners. Fort Harrison
(afterwards called Fort Burnham), a very important position, was
taken at the point of the bayonet, the ditch turned, and every
preparation made to hold the line. A stubborn attempt to retake
this work, headed by General Lee in person, met with a bloody
repulse. An incessant picket firing was kept up for several days,
when the hope of retaking the line was apparently abandoned.
The Fourth Battery was under fire during this entire time.
On the 7th of October, Longstreet's Division, which had started
a few days previously up the Valley, to join Early, suddenly
swooped down on Kautz's Cavalry, which was on outpost duty, on
the right flank of the army, capturing about half of his force and
putting to utter rout the remainder. General Longstreet closely
followed the flying fugitives, but the Army of the James was soon
under arms, and moving forward on a double-quick engaged the
enemy on the Newmarket road, just outside the intrenchments of
the right flank of the line. Had Longstreet struck a quarter of a
mile nearer the river, in the woods, to the rear, he could have
thrown the whole army in confusion, and inflicted untold disaster
The fighting, which lasted about two hours, was very severe.
Hundreds were killed and wounded on both sides. Finally, the
Tenth Corps, under General Birney, made a last rally, which
decided the fate of the day. General Birney arose from a sick




BATTERY D-(FOURTH ARTILLERY).                723
couch, burning with a violent fever, and insisted on being helped
into his saddle.  He fought like a lion, and after the action was too
weak to walk.  He was taken home to Philadelphia, where he
shortly afterwards died. His last thoughts were of his army, and
his last words, "Boys, keep your eyes on that flag!"  Lieutenant
King was struck in the shoulder and knccked from his horse by an
exploding shell-the injury unfitting him from duty for more than
a month.
No further attempts were made by the rebels to retake this line,
and the army of the James commenced the erection of winter
quarters, and perfecting themselves in drill. From Chapin's Farm,
the battery was dispatched, late in the same month, with seven
thousand other troops, to New York, to assist in preserving order
at the Presidential election in November, under an apprehension
that the more turbulent and disorderly classes, under the lead of
certain notorious demagogues, would attempt by violence to prevent a fair election.  The battery was shipped at Bermuda Hundred on board of two stern-wheel steamers, Captain Doane commanding one and Lieutenant Morris the other. During the voyage
from Fortress Monroe, Lieutenant Morris' vessel, the "Patapsco,"
was chased for twenty-four hours by the rebel pirate, the Tallahctssee, but escaped, the pirate not venturing further north than the
latitude of the Delaware Breakwater. Upon reaching Brooklyn
the battery was disembarked at Atlantic Dock, and marched to
Fort Hamilton, where it was embarked on ferry-boats, Captain
Doane commanding one boat with four guns, and lying off the
Battery, and Lieutenant Morris, commanding another boat, having
on board his own section and a section of Battery M, First United
States Artillery, and stationed on the East River, ready to land in
case of emergency. Fortunately the services of the troops were
not required, the election passing off quietly, and after an absence
of two weeks the battery returned to Chapin's Farm, where it
remained through the bleak, dreary winter, within sight of the
steeples of Richmond, quietly watching the rebels within their
intrenchments, only five hundred yards distant.
At length spring came, with its bloom  and promise, and the




724           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
armies of the Republic, battle-worn and scarred, prepared with
hopeful hearts for the final struggle with the dispirited and weakened foe. But the Fourth New Jersey Battery was never again
called to hurl death and disaster into the rebel ranks.  On the 3d
of April, 1865, the enemy, by the attack of the Army of the Potomac in front of Petersburg, was forced to abandon his intrenchments in front of Richmond. Our pickets advanced at daybreak.
At the same moment there came three thundering reports from up
the river, three blinding flashes, and the iron-clad navy of the
Confederate States of America had ceased to exist. In a few
minutes our pickets had possessed the rebel works, and shortly
after the whole army was put in motion. The decisive hour had
come, and the veterans of a hundred battles hastened to embrace
its grand opportunities.
The Fourth Battery was designated to remove the captured artillery, which being done, it hurried forward with the exultant legions
to Richmond, and was the first organization of New Jersey troops
to enter the city. Richmond was reached early in the forenoon,
not a shot having been fired on the entire march, extending from
Chapin's Farm for a distance of seven miles, through a vast network of defences, which apparently might for years have defied
the fiercest assaults. At early daybreak a cloud of smoke was
observed hanging over the city, and when the troops came over
the hills, and obtained a first glance of the conflagration, the scene
was terribly grand. Great clouds of fire and smoke were rolling
up from a thousand buildings on the south side of the city.  The
arsenal was on fire, and the three-quarters of a million rounds of
fixed shell stored therein were bursting continually, scattering
destruction and death among the terrified women and children
whose homes were in flames.  The city was fired by order of the
Confederate officers. It was pitiful to see beautiful women and
innocent children jostled rudely by the swaying, surging throngand the gorgeous furniture, splendid pianos and costly mirrors
tossed about the streets.
Meanwhile the exultant legions pressed swiftly on in pursuit of
the retreating foe. The expected end was not delayed. On Sun



BATTERY D-(FOURTH ARTILLERY).                725
day, April 10th, General Lee capitulated, and with that act the
rebel flag went down in irretrievable disaster, never again to be
flaunted in the nation's face.
On the 14th of April, the battery moved from its camp on the
western border of Richmond to a point on the Southside Railroad,
near Petersburg, where it remained until news of Johnston's surrender was received, when it marched to City Point-where it
continued inactive nearly a month, awaiting the order to be mustered out. This order, the most welcome, perhaps, of the war,
came at last. The battery proceeded to Richmond by way of
Petersburg, and all the preliminaries being completed, on the morning of the 18th of June it embarked on board a steamer, en route
for home.
It arrived at Trenton late on the night of the 20th, and was appropriately entertained by Mayor Mills on behalf of the State. The battery returned with more than the number of men it had when it left
Trenton, two years before, having constantly had large accessions
of recruits-but with twenty-five only of the original one hundred
and sixty who had started with it-the remaining one hundred and
thirty-five having died heroically on fields of desperate encounter,
or been so disabled by wounds or disease as to compel discharge.
Others had taken their places, and helped to maintain the reputation
of the command, which from first to last had been unsullied by a
single stain.




CHAPTER XXXIX.
BATTERY  E-(Fifth  Artillery)
BATTERY E, Fifth New Jersey Artillery, raised in the summer of
1863, proceeded to Washington in the month of September, there
going into camp at Camp Barry.' Here it remained, engaged in
drill until the 22d of April, 1864, when it proceeded to Gloucester
Point, where it was assigned to the Tenth Army Corps.  It was
sharply engaged at Drury's Bluff early in May, losing thirteen
men.  Subsequently, it performed efficient service in other engagements of the summer campaign, but no reports of its actions being
on file among the military records of the State, no satisfactory details
can be supplied.  It is only known, in a general way, that the
battery fully sustained the reputation of New Jersey troops.  The
Fifth was much the largest battery in service from this State, there
being connected with it at different times, one Captain, three First
Lieutenants, and six Second Lieatenants, with five hundred and
seventy enlisted men.  Many of the Thirty-seventh Regiment (hun.
dred days' men), re-enlisting, were transferred to this battery, while
nearly all the substitutes and drafted men of 1865, in the artillery
service, were also assigned to this organization. The battery was
finally disbanded June 12, 1865.
1 The officers of the battery were: Captain, Zenas C. Warren; First Lieutenant,
George F. Durant; Second Lieutenant, Thomas R. Perry.




CHAPTER XL.
JERSEYMEN  IN  OTHER  ORGANIZATIONS.
WrE have seen that the total number of regiments furnished by
New Jersey during the war was forty, including infantry and cavalry, together with five batteries of artillery.  Of these forty regiments, thirty-seven were infantry. The number of men furnished
by the State was eighty-eight thousand three hundred and five,
being ten thousand and fifty-seven in excess of the number called
for. Of this number, seventy-nine thousand three hundred and
forty-eight served with State organizations, and the remainder in
regiments of other States.  The naval and marine enlistments
from  New Jersey numbered four thousand eight hundred and
fifty-three. Of the deeds of the volunteers in this latter service,
we have no accounts, but of some of the companies which, unable
to find a place in the regiments of their own State, became incorporated with foreign organizations, we have a partial record,
honorable at once to themselves and the State. Several of these
companies early in the war, being rejected at home, applied for
service to General Daniel E. Sickles, and were placed in the
brigade which he was raising in New York. This brigade, known
as the Excelsior Brigade, which was afterwards placed to the credit
of the State of New York, and the regiments of which took their
regimental numbers and designation from that State, should never
have been credited to or commissioned from any one State. It
was in all respects a cosmopolitan organization. In its first regiment alone (Seventieth New York) were to be found three companies recruited entirely in New Jersey, while two others were
recruited in great part from the same State-one company from
West Pennsylvania, one from Michigan, and one from Massachusetts. In the three remaining companies there were a number of




728           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
men from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The same mixed organization prevailed to a greater or less extent throughout the brigade,
with the exception of the Fourth Regiment, which was recruited
exclusively from the city of New York. It was computed at the
headquarters of the brigade in December, 1861, that over twelve
hundred citizens of New Jersey were then serving in it. The
following companies were exclusively from this State, and came
into the brigade as completed organizations: First RegimentCompany A, Captain J. M. Johnson, afterwards Captain B. W.
Ioxsey, recruited at Paterson; Company F, commanded for a
time by Captain J. M. McCamly, of Newark; Company I, Captain
E. J. Ayres, afterwards Captain A. Belcher, recruited at Paterson;
Company K, Captain Frederick Gruett, recruited at Newark.
Companies G, B and D, commanded respectively by Captains
O'Reilly, Mahan and Price, were at least one-half recruited in New
Jersey. Second Regiment (Seventy-first New York)-Company
D, Captain William H. Greene, recruited in Newark; Company
E, Captain Toler, raised in the same city; Company F, Captain
Murphy, raised in Orange. Third Regiment (Seventy-second New
York)-Company F, Captain Leonard, recruited in Newark, and
one other company composed of Jerseymen.  Of the three companies in the First Regiment, Captain Johnson, of Company A,
resigned in the winter of 1861-2, and was succeeded by Captain
Oakley, who in turn resigned in October, 1862, and was suceeded
by Captain B. W. HIoxsey, who held command as Captain of this
company until its muster out in July, 1864. Captain Ayres, of
Company I, resigned at the same date as Captain Johnson, and
was succeeded by Captain Mitchell, who was killed at Williamsburg May 5, 1862. Captain Gruett remained with his company
(K) during its whole term of service, proving a most efficient
officer, and standing high in the estimation of his superiors. He
was subsequently made a Captain in Hancock's Veteran Corps, for
which he recruited two companies.  Among the first to enter the
field, he discharged every duty faithfully, and left the service only
when the enemy lowered his flag in surrender. Of the commanders of the other companies, Captain Leonard made a brilliant




JERSEYMEN  IN  OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.                        729
record, being  promoted  to  the Majority  and  to  the LieutenantColonelcy  of his regiment, while Captains McCamly  and Toler
fully sustained the high reputation of New Jersey soldiers. Captain Price, after service with his regiment, was made Colonel of
the  One Hundred  and Forty-fifth  New  York.   Captain  Greene
also achieved a high reputation as a fearless and efficient officer.1
The brigade at the time it was joined by the two Paterson companies, was crowded into the City Assembly Rooms, No. 444 Broadway, New York, and was afterwards, during the month of May,
removed, first to the Red Iouse, at Harlem, and thence to Staten
Island, before its muster into service. The sufferings of the men
from insufficient clothing, badly cooked food, and close confinement
to  uncomfortable and illy  ventilated quarters, from  May  1st to
June 1, 1861, were not exceeded by those of any one month of
their active service afterwards.  From  the first General Sickles had
encountered nothing but opposition from  Governor Morgan of New
York.  The clothing and rations so liberally supplied to all other
regiments then forming, were refused to his brigade, and it was
only on the pledge of the personal credit of General Sickles, that
1 This officer recruited his company at his own expense, and was mustered into the
service May 1, 1861. He participated with his command in the battles of Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Charles City Cross-Roads, and the fighting of the seven days' retreat,
as well as the engagement at Malvern Hill. Hewas also engaged at Bristow Station,
August 27, 1862, receiving a severe wound from a piece of shell, and his Second Lieutenant and several of his men being killed. An incident occurred on this occasion
which was most fortunate for Captain Greene. Upon leaving camp in the morning
without breakfast, his cook having filled his canteen with hot coffee, he flung it over
his shoulder, designing to drink it when cool. But going at a double-quick, he forgot
all about it until, while forming line of battle, the canteen slipped around on his hip.
Just at that moment, a shell exploding near him, a piece struck the canteen and lifted
the officer several feet in the air. But for the protection afforded by the canteen,
doubtless he would have been cut in two. As it was, he sustained injuries in the hip
and head which made him a cripple for life. Subsequently he received a position in
the Invalid Corps, being recommended by Major General Hooker, on the ground that
his "services and wounds rendered him a deserving applicant, and one with unusual
claims upon the favorable consideration of the Government."  Captain Greene says of
his company that a braver body of men never went afield, and mentions with especial
commendation Sergeant Peter Bleak, of Newark. This man was made color-bearer
of the regiment, and in every position displayed the coolest bravery, serving out his
whole term, fortunately without receiving a single scratch. This company, with others,
was indebted to the ladies of Newark, and to Mr. Marcus L. Ward, for many kindly
services; India rubber blankets and haversacks being supplied to the men at a season
of sore necessity.
92




730           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
these supplies were obtained. During the month of May, while
encamped at Staten Island, many of the men who had worn out
their own clothing, and who were not supplied with uniforms, were
unable to appear on drill from actual want of the clothing to cover
their nakedness. At this time also every journal in the City of
New York, with one exception, seemed to do its utmost to throw
every obstacle in the way of the formation of the brigade and to
discourage enlistments in it. By this course thousands of men who
enlisted in the brigade, becoming discouraged at the want of clothing and the improbability of its early muster into service, left it.
The old members who had come from New York to Staten Island
with the brigade, seemed to have identified their interests with
those of General Sickles, and were not to be discouraged or withdrawn from the brigade. An entire company from Pennsylvania
which, having joined afterwards, left the camp, was drummed out
by these men, with scoffs and abuse. It may be doubted whether
any public act of Governor Morgan was so unjust in itself and so
productive of harm to the interests of the country, as his treatment
of this brigade.
In September, 1861, the brigade, which in the meantime had
been incorporated into the division of General Hooker, and had
erected in great part Fort Stanton and several other works about
Washington, marched with its division into lower Maryland to
break up rebel organizations then being formed in that State, and
after performing this service, capturing many arms, &c., returned
to its camp near the Anacostia bridge, and about two miles out
fiom Washington.  In October the division took up a position in
Charles County, Maryland, opposite the Cockpit Point and Matthias
Point batteries, forming the extreme left of General McClellan's
army.  With the exception of one or two unimportant expeditions
into Virginia, soon after the evacuation of the rebel works, it
remained inactive until the army was directed against Yorktown.
After the evacuation of Yorktown, the division of General Hooker
being in advance on the main road from Yorktown to Williamsburg,
was the first of the Union infantry to come up with the enemy at
the latter place and attacked his skirmishers in front of the works,




JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.              731
driving them in. The history of that contest is well known; the
enemy finding himself pressed by inferior numbers, turned and
gave battle, moving out from his works and attacking the First and
Third Brigades with such force as to drive them back from their
position, and passing the left of their line, inflicted very heavy loss,
capturing a battery which, from the death of its horses, could not
be removed. It was at this moment when the Third Brigade (Fifth,
Sixth, Seventh and Eighth New Jersey Regiments) were being
forced from their line that the Excelsior Brigade, or rather its First
Regiment, was brought into the heavy "slashing" on the left of
the road, and was formed parallel to it to check the advance of the
enemy towards the road.  The regiment was at once ordered to
commence firing, but never received another order in the fight; for
over two hours it stood in the darkness of its own smoke, and when
its ammunition was exhausted, the survivors supplied themselves
from the cartridge-boxes of the dead. It held its line until the
enemy actually advanced over it. Going into the fight with six
hundred and fifty men, it lost three hundred and fifty-one in killed,
wounded and missing. Nine officers and ninety-six men of this
regiment were buried the next morning. The other regiments of
the brigade were moved up in succession, and only suffered less
because the enemy's efforts were much weakened by the prolonged
resistance of the First Regiment. The loss of the four regiments
of the brigade in this action amounted to upwards of eight hundred
men.  The New Jersey troops in the brigade suffered particularly;
the loss in Company A, of the First Regiment, commanded by
Captain (then Lieutenant) Hoxsey, was the largest of any company
in the brigade, amounting to forty-one out of sixty. Of the two
commissioned and nine non-commissioned officers of this company,
Lieutenant Hoxsey was wounded, Lieutenant Kilburn killed, two
out of three sergeants killed and one wounded, and all six of the
corporals killed.  Both of the other New Jersey companies suffered
largely.  Company K, Captain Gruett, lost twenty killed and
wounded, Lieutenant George Robinson being among the latter, sustaining two severe wounds. [This officer, before his wounds healed,
returned to the field, and at Gettysburg was again wounded, subse



732           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
quently dying from his injuries. Few braver men than Lieutenant
Robinson ever drew sword.]  Private Mott McCann, while bravely
trying to seize the enemy's colors, was riddled with bullets, and
fell dead only a few feet from the rebel line.
At Fair Oaks, the New Jersey companies again came in for a
heavy share of the loss. Throughout the whole campaign of the
Peninsula and the unfortunate campaign of Pope, terminating with
the second Bull Run, these troops bore a conspicuous part. At
Bristow Station, August 27, 1862, the loss of New Jersey soldiers
was again heavy. Lieutenant Hoxsey, coming to the command of
the regiment during the action, was severely wounded through the
hip while ordering its advance.  Throughout the campaigns of
Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Mine Run and the grand final campaign of General Grant from the Rapidan to Petersburg, this brigade, side by side with the Second New Jersey Brigade, emulated
its gallantry, and is entitled to equal praise.
Of the two companies, numbering two hundred and ten men,
recruited at Paterson, about fifty returned at the expiration of their
term of service; four-fifths of the remainder died on the field of
battle, or lingered in hospitals till death ended their sufferings.
The losses of the other companies were no less severe. The people
of New Jersey should remember that this brigade, although not
representing their State, has represented their valor, and should be
proud of the reputation of a command composed so largely of Jerseymen-which for three long years was always side by side with
the best of its troops. Nor should the fact of their leaving the
State to seek service militate against them. Their only object in
so doing was to get more quickly into service, and their patriotism
was larger than the limits of their State. Whatever their mistake
in this matter may have been, they paid its penalty in being
deprived of the liberal assistance provided by the State for its soldiers in the field. It should be added that many of those who
survived the expiration of the term of enlistment, again entered
the service in other organizations, while others, members of the
First Regiment, desiring to remain in the field, were attached to the
Eighty-second New York and remained with it until Lee's surrender.




JERSEYIMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.            733
The Jerseymen who served with Sickles, were not the only men
from this State who were connected with New York organizations.
Two companies of the Harris Light Cavalry (A and B), were raised
in Sussex County by General Kilpatrick, and gallantly maintained
the reputation of their native State. The original officers were:
Captain, A. N. Duffie; First Lieutenant, George V. Griggs; Second
Lieutenant, Benjamin Gregory, Company A; Captain, XE. F. Cook;
First Lieutenant, Henry Gwinton; Second Lieutenant, George Fall,
Company B. Of these, Cooke, Griggs and Gwinton, were from
Sussex County; Gregory from Jersey City, and Duffie and Fall
were foreigners.  After a short encampment at Scarsdale, New
York, Kilpatrick took the squadron to Washington, with other
companies, and in a few weeks the regiment was one thousand and
two hundred strong. About the last of September, the Sussex
squadron was sent with Baker's Brigade to Poolesville, Maryland,
and was present at the disastrous fight of Ball's Bluff. Though
not in action, the squadron rendered valuable service in getting the
wounded back across the river.
After Baker's death, which was much deplored by this squadron on account of his fatherly care over the men, the companies
marched back to Washington and rejoined the regiment, which by
an order of Secretary Cameron was now called the Seventh United
States Cavalry.  This order was recalled two weeks later and the
commanding officer was ordered to report to the Governor of New
York, to have his regiment numbered with others of that State.
For a while the regiment was called the Seventh New York, at the
request of the Colonel, but it was soon officially named the Second
New York Cavalry; the " Iarris Light" being still the popular
name, and the one dearest to the men.
The first action of any importance in which the squadron was
engaged, occurred on the Falmouth Road, in April, 1862. The
Jerseymen were in the advance, and behaved most handsomely,
driving the enemy back upon Falmouth, with the assistance of the
battalion under Major (afterwards Major General) Davies. At midnight the squadron also took part in the famous charge upon the
rebel barricades, and at daylight, next morning, entered Falmouth.




734           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
After the occupation of Fredericksburg it was engaged in several
scouts.  About the First of May, Duffie's Battalion, consisting of
this and another squadron, was detached as body-guard to MajorGeneral McDowell, and remained with that officer until after the
Second Bull Run Battle-being the first to fire upon the enemy on
that field. During this battle Lieutenant Griggs and twenty of his
men acted as escort to General Fitz John Porter, and while riding
across the field (Saturday, August 30th) discovered the dead body
of Lieutenant Frederick Compton, of Newark, who had gone out
voluntarily the previous night to find a squadron which had been
cut off in the darkness. After the reverses at Bull Run and Chantilly, the squadron followed the First Corps into Maryland, and was
present at the Battles of South Mountain and Antietam, though not
engaged in either.  Returning to the regiment in October, the
squadron operated with the First New Jersey Cavalry, remaining
in the same brigade until the Cavalry Corps was organized.
Early in the spring of 1863, Kilpatrick made the first famous
raid upon Richmond. with the Harris Light Cavalry.  The men of
Sussex, as usual, took an important part in that expedition, and it
was a Sussex officer who carried the flag almost into the rebel
Capital.
The Harris Light Cavalry rejoined the Army of the Potomac
about the 1st of June following, and Kilpatrick, now commanding
a brigade in Gregg's Division, moved south across Kelley's Ford
on the morning of the memorable 9th of June, in conjunction with
similar movements at the upper fords by the whole corps. The
division under General Duffie (formerly Captain of Company A)
moved off rapidly out of sight towards Stevensburg, and was not
seen again until after the great fight. With this exception, the
whole cavalry corps of each army was engaged, and doubtless, but
for the absence of this division, the battle would have been won
by us. Kilpatrick marched rapidly towards Brandy Station, anda
soon came in sight of the enemy, massed on the west side of the
railroad.  "At once forming his brigade, under a heavy artillery
fire," (we quote the language of a participant) "Kilpatrick moved
across the fields, in echelon of Regiment-the First Maine on the




JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.            735
right, the Harris Light in the center, and the Tenth New York on
the left. This brought the Harris Light directly in range of the
massed rebels beyond the railroad. When nearing at a full gallop
it was discovered that a deep ravine intervened between the regiment and the railroad, which brought the command to a halt,
under a most galling fire from the enemy on the high ground in
front. In the confusion which followed, voices were heard calling
the command to the left, and some of the officers, believing that a
crossing place had been found, gave orders to move to the left;
but at this moment, White's rebel battalion was crossing at that
point on a countercharge, to strike our flank.  Supposing the
order to mean an attack upon this force, the men rushed wildly
after it, and smashed right into the head of the Tenth New York,
advancing in the order above mentioned. This not only broke up
the Harris Light, but also the Tenth New York, which has suffered
unjustly much of the blame of this unfortunate blunder. But one
squadron, Captain Mitchell's (including Company B, of the old
Sussex squadron), remained with Davies, the heroic commander of
the Harris Light, who had gallantly cleared the ravine, and faced
alone the rebel host. Unhorsed instantly, he still stood over the
body of his beloved'Buckskin,' and parried every blow aimed at
him by the eager rebels. Once, with consummate skill, he caught
the saber of a strong and muscular officer and sent it whirling into
the air. Mitchell soon reached Davies, and the First Maine swinging around, the rebels gave way. Mitchell retook the guns lost by
Colonel Wyndham, on the left of Kilpatrick, but could not hold
them. Captain Griggs started, after the regiment had been rallied,
to recover these guns, but Davies, having no support, recalled him."
A week later, the Harris Light removed, at Aldie, every stain
of the blunder of Brandy Station.  The squadron which had been
accused of leading that affair was selected by Kilpatrick to charge
a body of sharpshooters, who, posted behind haystacks in a
meadow below the town, poured a destructive fire into the brigade
forming on the hills to the right. With desperate courage the
squadron dashed down the hill, across the meadow, over ditches,
right upon the stacks. A hundred more sharpshooters concealed




736           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
in a large ditch near by, now opened upon the gallant squadron.
Unable to return this fire, they stood and fought those around the
stacks until more than one-half had fallen. In.a few moments
Captain Gwinton charged to the support of the doomed squadron,
and Kilpatrick rushed the Sixth Ohio down the hill to the rescue.
Perceiving at last where the deadly fire came from, Gwinton's command headed straight for the ditch, to the right of the stacks.
The Sixth Ohio went to the left, and the enemy was captured
almost before he knew of the reinforcement. Lieutenants Whitaker and Martinson and many others fell in this charge, while Lieutenant Raymond and the larger part of the squadron were wounded.
Only nineteen men of those who first charged the stacks came
away unhurt, and these, with a few others, two days later, charged
a stone wall, from which a regiment had just been repulsed.
Other portions of the Harris Light distinguished themselves at
Aldie. Captain Griggs not only fought his command effectively,
but dared to order the commander of another regiment to attack
the enemy, who was gaining on our right.  A sergeant of the
Harris Light (Wurt Cunningham-afterwards promoted and killed)
also pointed out to the same officer how he could successfully use
his command, and between Griggs and Cunningham  much good
was done. Nearly all the Jersey officers were complimented for
their behavior in this fight, which was participated in by Kilpatrick's Brigade on our side and Fitz Hugh Lee's on the other, and
was a great success for our troops.
In the succeeding fights between Aldie and the Blue Ridge, in
which the whole corps were employed, none fought more bravely
than the Jerseymen of the Harris Light Cavalry. Kilpatrick was
the soul of those brilliant conflicts, and he did not hesitate to push
forward his own "pet" regiment in every emergency which demanded great nerve and boldness, and in no case was his faith dishonored. For days the cavalry of the contending armies fought
desperately, but at last, the rebel trains being safely beyond the
mountain, Stuart slipped through Ashby's Gap, and dared us to
enter it, while our cavalry, countermarching, made for Poolesville,
and followed the Army of the Potomac towards Pennsylvania.




JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.              737
Gwinton and Griggs, with their companies, were sent to Washington to escort surplus baggage and horses. After performing
this duty-in a column from  the Dismounted Camp, commanced by Major Fry, of a Pennsylvania regiment-they started
to rejoin the corps at Poolesville.  Fry, hearing from General
Halleck's scouts, that a small forage party of the enemy had
crossed at Seneca Falls, when near Rockville, requested Griggs,
(Gwinton being temporarily absent,) to go after them. Coming
soon upon a small body of rebels similar to that described by the
scouts, Lieutenant A. C. Shafer, in command of Griggs' advance
guard, charged and drove it back towards the river.  This body of
rebels grew larger as it fell back, and Griggs soon was fighting a
brigade instead of a forage party. After a short fight, the little
squadron was compelled to fly, leaving nearly half of Griggs' own
company wounded.  Stuart was so greatly deceived by this affair
as to believe Kilpatrick's Division was in his front, and passing
through Rockville, he turned towards the Monocacy without touching the communications between Washington and the North.  Fry,
upon Griggs' return to the column, hastened to Washington with
the news of Stuart's crossing, and the gallant little fight —which
Stuart admitted had delayed the rebels an hour and a half.
Meantime, Kilpatrick, now in command of a splendid division
of cavalry, was operating in the direction of the Pennsylvania line,
but hearing that Stuart had struck the railroad at Monocacy Bridge,
he turned to give him  battle.  A most desperate fight ensued,
resulting in the withdrawal of Stuart's Corps from  his fiont.  In
the short Gettysburg campaign, Kilpatrick, unable to get the
Harris Light transferred to his new command, borrowed the regiment fiom Gregg, and worked it so hard that but a remnant was
left to return to the latter.  Kilpatrick fought in fifteen days
almost as many battles., capturing forty-five hundred prisoners,
nine guns and eleven battle-flags.
Changes had constantly been going on in the Harris Light, and
a number of the Jerseymen who went out in the ranks now wore
the uniform of officers.  Kilpatrick, first Lieutenant-Colonel, then
Colonel, was now a Brigadier-General, and in command of a divi.
93




738           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
sion-doubtless the youngest man with so large a command in the
army.  Cooke was a Major, Griggs and Gwinton Captains, and a
number of the Sussex Sergeants were now First and Second Lieutenants, while the squadron was scattered throughout the regiment.
Kilpatrick persistently begged for his old regiment, declaring
that it was necessary to his success that he should have it. Finally
an order came to Cooke, then in command, to report his regiment
to Kilpatrick for permanent assignment to the Third Cavalry Division, and in this incomparable division the regiment remained until
the end of the war, as necessary a part of it as any organization
connected with it.
Early in September Kilpatrick moved down the Rappahannock
and destroyed the two gunboats captured from our navy a short
time before. Soon after this affair, in the same month, the whole
corps crossed the Rappahannock, Kilpatrick striking the enemy's
outpost near Brandy Station, driving everthing before him, while
Buford, far to the right, made direct for Culpepper. When near
the town he endeavored to swing around upon it from the Sperryville road, but met with determined resistance.  At a gallop the
Third Division closed up on the flying rebels in its front, and suddenly appeared on the hills just in front of Culpepper, around
Which Stuart's whole corps, in gorgeous array, was drawn up in
order of battle, breathlessly awaiting Buford's assault.  While
from Kilpatrick's band the grand music of the Star Spangled Banner floated over the field, firing the hearts of men and nerving all
to deeds of valor, a battalion of the Harris Light, led by Captain
Griggs, and embracing nearly all the Sussex men, dashed ahead of
all other troops, across the creek, straight upon the rebel battery.
A short death-struggle and Griggs was the proud captor of two
Blakeley guns, and nearly all the men of the battery.  And now
Buford, wheeling around upon the town, swept the rebels away in
wild confusion. Rallying once again beyond the hills, the rebels
turned upon the Harris Light, which alone was in sight, and made
a desperate rush to cut it off-but it was not to be caught thus.
Quickly falling back it was soon relieved by Buford's advancing
columns. General George A. Custer, whose brigade was not actively




JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORG.ANIZATIONS.            739
engaged, rode forward and charged with Griggs' battalion upon the
battery and beyond the town, receiving a severe bullet hole through
his leg.
Later in September, Kilpatrick and Buford had an encounter
with Stuart, far south of Madison Court House, in which the
Harris Light was badly cut up, by getting across the path of a
brigade retreating before Buford. Early in October, as General
Lee commenced his movement towards Sperryville, on our right
flank, General Kilpatrick was pushed well out towards Madison
Court House, to observe the manceuvers of the enemy, and to
cover the retreat of our army, which was falling back across the
Rappahannock, and severe skirmishing followed for several days.
At daylight on the 11th October, a day never to be forgotten in
the history of the Third Division, Kilpatrick cautiously drew
away from the enemy and followed our retreating army. Pleasanton, at Culpepper, halted Kilpatrick south of the town, and
directed him to send a good officer with a squadron back upon the
road, to penetrate the enemy's lines and develope their intentions.
The ominous silence which reigned over those hills, betokened the
coming storm, for in the Harris Light there were men who had
discovered the enemy's cavalry creeping around our flank the previous night. Captain Griggs (with his own and one Sussex company) was selected by General Davies for this most hazardous
expedition. Soon after he had started, the enemy appeared on all
sides of the division, and Kilpatrick, alarmed for Griggs' safety,
sent scouts back to recall him; but it was too late.  Surrounded
and cut off, with a division of cavalry closed in between him and
Kilpatrick, Griggs had barely time to direct his men to fly to the
right, when a bullet entered his brain and he dropped from the
saddle, a victim to a cruel order.  Thus died one of New Jersey's
noblest sons, an honor to his State and a bright ornament to his
regiment.  And now  commenced a wonderful spectacle.  Across
the fields towards Brandy Station, three long columns of horsemen
moved rapidly, apparently unheeding each other, while to the rear
a dense column of infantry, moving through clouds of dust,
hurried on after the cavalry.  The latter was A. P. Hill's Corps



740           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
one-third of the rebel army.  On the right, and nearest Brandy
Station, heading off the center column, marched Fitz Hugh Lee's
rebel division. To the left, in plain view of the center, with colors
floating gayly over the column, rode Stuart and Wade Hampton,
at the head of the rest of the Confederate cavalry.  In the center,
unappalled by the fearful hosts around them, with desperate courage and proud bearing, rode the dauntless heroes of the Third
Cavalry Division of the Union army.  Brandy Station was the
point, to reach which every nerve was strained.  Fitz Hugh
Lee reached it first. Then, cut off from the Union army, which
lay behind the Rappahannock, but five miles away, the Third
Division turned to fight one-half of the rebel host! Unmindful
of the furious fire of Fitz Hugh Lee's guns, that division turned
its back upon them, and, Iilpatrick leading, dashed against Wade
Hampton with such wild, mad fury, that the boasted chivalry
shrank back in dismay. A brave, imposing looking officer rallied
his brigade and made a dash at Davies, who with a little handful
of the Harris Light, was fighting around the depot.   "Bring
those colors here!" shouted Gwinton, riding towards the brow of
the hill facing this brigade.  Around the tattered flags of the
Harris Light gathered a little band, which met the coming foe and
sent them reeling back to their line, leaving their gallant leader
prostrate before our men.  Still furiously raged the fight. Gathering his command closer around his guns, Kilpatrick, undismayed
by the fearful odds, hurled back every charge, while about the
battery men hacked away at each other remorselessly.  Elder's
three-inch iron guns mowed great gaps through the rebel ranks,
and all the enemy's artillery concentrated upon them only disabled
one gun. All through the fight this battery never ceased to pour
its shot and shell upon the enemy. At times the guns became so
hot that the men were obliged to pause temporarily to let them
cool. Elder, contemptuously indifferent to the enemy all about
him, held his revolver over his own men and swore he would shoot
the first who faltered.  With terrible oaths and howls of pain the
division fought on, nor thought of flight or surrender. Hour after
hour flew by, and still the fight of three thousand against a small




JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.              741
army raged unceasingly. At last, when ammunition was exhausted
and the field was covered with the dead and dying, the wild shriek
of twelve-pounders rang out loud above the din of battle, and
shells whizzed through the air and burst and crashed into the rebel
ranks.   Turning, Kilpatrick's weary troopers beheld Buford's
Division spread across the plain in splendid order-flags flying,
bugles sounding, lines advancing, batteries shrieking death to the
foe. Curses were changed to cheers, as Buford, with stoical calmness, advanced with his staff to the extreme front, removed the
cigar from his lips, and coolly surveyed the mingled masses in
front. Before his brigades came over the hill behind him, the
rebels nervously shrank back and took position on the defensive.
Grandly the superb First Division marched up to its work, sweeping back Fitz HIugh Lee from the flank and delivering its fire into
the enemy in front. Stuart no longer desired to fight, and quietly,
at dusk, our cavalry turned and marched away with their wounded.
About the 22d of October, Kilpatrick was again cut off by the
whole of Stuart's Corps, at Buckland Mills, but, by adroit coolness,
managed to slip away, after a severe struggle, in which he inflicted
as much damage upon the enemy as his command suffered.  Soon
after this, Kilpatrick again crossed to the south of the Rappahannock, and after several skirmishes settled down into winter camp
at Stevensburg.
On the 28th of February, 1864, Kilpatrick started on the great
raid to Richmond, with four thousand cavalry. A selected party
of five hundred and fifty men under Colonel Dahlgren and Lieutenant-Colonel Cooke, moved away from the division on independent roads, passing Spottsylvania Court House at daylight of the
29th, and Frederick Hall at noon-where in full sight of Lee's
Reserve Artillery Camp they captured an entire Court-Martial
detail, attendants, &c.  Continuing the march, without rest, this
party crossed the South Anna about dusk and halted a little
after midnight near Goochland Court House. Resuming the march
at three o'clock, a. m., Tuesday, the 1st of March, Dahlgren's
guide-a negro sent from Meade's Headquarters-assured him that
the Ferry (or Ford) across the James was but five miles away.




742           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
After marching five hours and not reaching the river, Dahlgren's
suspicions of the negro's treachery becoming very strong, he
threatened him with instant death. The negro pleaded for another
hour, promising to bring the column to a crossing within that time.
Dahlgren gave the respite, but his scouts having reported nothing
but a scow ferry on the river, and that many miles from where he
had supposed himself to be, he, at the end of the hour, hung the
negro to a tree by the roadside.  The poor fellow protested his
innocence to the last, and the mystery of his coiduct has never
yet been cleared away. Foiled in his attempt to cross the James,
and burning with a desire to win imperishable renown by some
unequalled act of daring, Dahlgren determined that night to attack
Richmond from  the north bank of the river, and by desperate
charges to stampede the militia, supposed to be holding the city.
His first fight began about dark, and about six miles from the city.
He literally rode over the city troops until within three miles of
the Capital, when he was met by such a desperate fire as to check
his further advance.  Against the advice of Cooke he urged on
his men by jeers and taunts, until at last, finding it impossible to
move the enemy, he gave up the useless sacrifice of life, and endeavored in the darkness to collect his scattered troops.  Calling
for volunteers to cover the retreat-which alone was responded to
by a small party of the Harris Light-Dahlgren started away, and
the word was passed among the men to fall into the road and follow. A detachment of the First Maine, coming into the road and
not knowing of the order to retreat, unconsciously cut the column
in two, by halting to await orders. The night was intensely dark,
and when it was discovered that Dahlgren and Cooke had marched
on with about a hundred men, scouts were sent out to find his trail,
and the column moved along on the main road. Dahlgren turned
into a by-road and did not miss the remainder of his column until
near Hungary Station.  Disappointed in not finding Kilpatrick
here, as expected, the Colonel destroyed most of his baggage, and
not waiting to hear from his lost column, started towards the Pamunkey, which he crossed, and also the Mattapony.  When near
King and Queen Court-house, he was surrounded (Wednesday




JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.            743
night, the 2d), himself killed and nearly all the rest capturedCooke and others being hunted down with blood-hounds.
The other part of this column was more fortunate. Failing to
get on Dahlgren's trail, the party moved up the main road, Captain
J. F. B. Mitchell (Harris Light) having assumed command-until
running into a rebel camp, they were forced to countermarch, and
seek some other route. Marching back towards Richmond, the
road being full of the straggling militia they had captured in the
fight and had released, the party finally struck into a road towards
Hungary Station. Wandering along until midnight, Mitchell discovered that the enemy was just behind his column in hot pursuit. Turning into a lane, and marching across a field, a swamp
was found, in which the hunted party concealed themselves. Here,
after a rebel cavalry regiment had passed by-as they thought, in
full chase-three men of the Harris Light went out to look for
Hungary Station. Returning in two or three hours, and reporting
no Union troops in the neighborhood of Hungary, it was determined to strike out again and trust in Providence to lead the party
out of its troubles. A negro was procured wbo carefullyled the
party around the rebel regiment, which failing to find Mitchell's
party had gone into camp on the road. Circling around Hungary,
the party after daylight on Wednesday, struck the Brook Pike,
and moved towards Richmond, hoping to hear of Kilpatrick.  Soon
running into the enemy, another retrograde march was made down
the Brook Pike, but finding that NVade Hampton's Cavalry were
on this road, it became necessary to get off of it also. A small
road was eventually found, leading to an obscure ford on the Chickahominy, into which the little command joyfully turned. Coming
upon a party of laborers, clearing away the debris of a train of
cars destroyed by Kilpatrick the day before, they were compelled by
threats to tell all they knew of Itilpatrick's whereabouts.  Selecting
an intelligent old man, Captain Mitchell gave him a horse and
made him show him the ford. When safely across it, out of sight
of his neighbors, the guide declared his love for the Union, and
gladly gave Mitchell much valuable information about the enemy
and the roads leading down the Peninsula. It had been decided




744           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
to take the chances of reaching Williamsburg, and the command,
carefully avoiding unnecessary fighting, hurried on towards the
Williamsburg road.  A  little charge was sufficient to clear the
cross roads, and Kilpatrick's broad trail was discovered. Gladly
following the burning fences-set on fire by Kilpatrick in order
that if any of Dahlgren's party should get on this road they might
know unmistakably that he was near by-the command marched
rapidly down the road.  In the afternoon, when it was hoped
momentarily to overtake Kilpatrick's rear guard, a new  danger
suddenly appeared.  Bradley Johnson's rebel legion, following
Kilpatrick, had discovered Mitchell's party, and as it entered a
dense woods, opened a heavy volley upon it. Recoiling from this
unexpected shock, the situation was soon comprehended.  The
party determined to make one more effort, and closing up together
dashed against the woods as fast as their jaded horses could go.
The rebels were broken and fled, carrying away twenty-one of the
party, however, who had been unhorsed in the charge. An hour
later the party reached Kilpatrick, having marched two hundred
and twenty-five miles in three days. Of five hundred and fifty
men who went with Dahlgren, but two hundred and thirty rejoined
Kilpatrick.
Kilpatrick with the main column having waited in vain to hear
Dahlgren in Richmond, attacked the city on Tuesday, but as troops
were constantly arriving to defend the place, he at midnight abandoned the project and marched down the Peninsula.  He was much
affected upon learning of Dahlgren's death and of Cooke's capture.
Cooke having been his chief-of-staff for a long time, was much
missed by him. To revenge the cruelty practiced by the rebels
upon this party, he took his freshest horses, crossed the York river
and moved into King and Queen, laying waste the country which
had so unmercifully tortured his men.
Every Jersey soldier remembers with indignation the cruel
imprisonment of Cooke, confined in a dark dungeon, into which
"Butler's negroes" were thrust to keep him company, and his hightoned declaration that he " infinitely preferred the company of loyal
negroes to that of white traitors." His patient suffering, with




JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.             745
scarcely sufficient food to keep life in him; his brave-hearted
endurance of all his trials in that filthy cell, won the admiration of
all who knew of his sufferings. Once escaping while on the way
to another prison, he wandered through North Carolina, almost
starving, for days, until, hunted down again with blood-hounds, he
yielded to his tormentors and was tgken to Charleston and placed
under the fire of the Union batteries. Released from his captivity
after a year's confinement, he returned home, just in time to witness
the death of his young wife, for whom he had borne up so hopefully through every torture to which his proud spirit was subjected.
Completely broken in health, he accompanied General Kilpatrick
to Chili as Secretary of Legation when that officer was appointed
Minister, but died within a year or so after his arrival. The Government conferred upon him a brevet of Brigadier-General, as an
acknowledgment of his faithful services to his country.
This raid ended Kilpatrick's connection with the Army of the
Potomac. When Grant came to that army, Kilpatrick was sent to
General Sherman to command his cavalry, and the Third Division
saw him no more. He was the soul of the division, and when he
was gone all the " vim" and fire seemed to have left it. General
Wilson, Kilpatrick's successor, could not gain the love of this division, for Kilpatrick had borne away its heart.  The men fought as
hard as ever, but accomplished but little. Not until Sheridan's
electric presence had warmed the hearts of these men did they again
put on their proud looks and gallant bearing. The great Wilson
Raid on the Danville Road was not participated in with the enthusiasm necessary to success, which may, perhaps, account for some
of our losses on that expedition.  When Sheridan was sent to the
Valley, both the First and Third Divisions were embarked on
transports and sent to Washington, whence they marched to Winchester. In the changes that had been made in the spring, Colonel
John B. McIntosh, of New Jersey, had been assigned to the command of the First Brigade, of the Third Division, embracing now
the Third New Jersey (a new regiment), the Harris Light, and
several other regiments. About the last of May, this officer with
three regiments and a battery, became surrounded at Ashland Sta94




746           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
tion by the two rebel divisions of Hampton and Fitz Hugh Lee,
and alone and unaided, fought from noon until dark, with a nerve
and energy unsurpassed in the history of war-marching away at
nightfall in the face of the enemy, who was afraid to come too
close to him in the cark.  On the Wilson Raid, this officer showed
such splendid gallantry and ability, in the darkest and most trying
emergencies, as well as in the flush of victory, that he was at once
made a full Brigadier General. Still retaining his brigade, he
reached Winchester on the day that Sheridan's troops fell back
from that city towards Harper's Ferry, tabout the middle of August,
and his brigade was at once detailed as rear-guard for the army.
In the performance of this duty only the Third New Jersey was
brought prominently into action. Two of the battalions of this
regiment behaved like veterans, and repulsed several determined
assaults with great gallantry.
At Kearneysville, late in August, McIntosh was at first repulsed,
but rallying his brigade, and sending the horses to the rear, he led
his men, dismounted, up to the enemy's infantry, and fought for an
hour with great pluck, holding the enemy in check until the corps
was withdrawn.
When left to himself, McIntosh displayed wonderful skill and
tact, combined with an audacious style of fighting that astonished
both friends and enemies.  A few days before the Battle of Winchester, he dashed across the Opequaa with three regiments, and
forming his command into three columns, charged into the camp
of the enemy, at mid-day, picked up a regiment of South Carolina
Infantry and marched it away-Colonel, colors and all-before the
astounded division of Kershaw had time to recover its presence of
mind.  This brilliant manceuver enabled him to make a full report
of the enemy's position to General Sheridan, and upon that same
ground, a few days after, the Battle of Winchester was fought.
About one o'clock, a. m., September 19th, McIntosh again moved
up the Winchester road from  Berryville, apparently on another
similar expedition.  The great masses of infantry in the road soon
indicated more serious work. Passing all troops, McIntosh divided
the Harris Light, then only one battalion of two large squadrons,




JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.               747
placing a squadron well out into the fields on both sides of the main
column.  One squadron (Mattison's) marched a mile to the right of
the road, the other a little to the left, all moving on the same alignment with the head of column in the road, and sweeping up any
scouts or stragglers that might have otherwise watched Sheridan's
movements.  The left squadron, unable to cross the Opequan, had
to come back to the road; but the right squadron crossed a mile
above, simultaneously with the head of the brigade, which immediately after fell in with the enemy, who was driven back over
the hills.
Mcintosh immediately deployed his brigade into line, and sending
word to the squadron on the right to " pitch in," he threw his whole
command upon the rebels, soon clearing the hills, upon which the
army slowly formed its lines of battle, completely concealed from
the view of the enemy by McIntosh's furious charges.  All that
morning this brigade persistently beat back the rebels and daringly
held them off our ground while our infantry massed just under the
crest of these hills, stealthily keeping out of sight.  Just as a division of the enemy charged the heights held by the left squadron of
the Harris Light, an order was passed along the line for the cavalry
to fall back.  This squadron slipped out and left the enemy face to
face with Russell's Division of the Sixth Corps. Five minutes
after both sides were locked in deadly conflict, and the shot and
shell of the enemy raked the ground for miles around.
As the thin veil of cavalry was withdrawn, displaying to the
astonished view of the rebels the splendid masses of the Sixth and
Nineteenth Corps, Sheridan rode up to McIntosh, and in the most
affectionate manner expressed his gratitude to that delighted officer
for having fought the army into such an excellent position. And
now the battle of Winchester was fairly begun.  Merritt's and
Averill's Cavalry Divisions, away around on the Martinsburg pike,
had struck the rebels and doubled them up on Winchester, while
the Eighth Corps, going in to the right of the'Nineteenth, completed our long line and wrapped almost around the ancient city.
Wilson's cavalry moved to the left, and Chapman's Brigade went
in handsomely, driving away a brigade of rebel cavalry and laying




748          NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
up close on to the right flank of Early's infantry, which, thus
uncovered, presented such an opportunity for our artillery as was
seldom offered. McIntosh (whose brigade was resting from its
labors of the morning) could not be a silent looker on. Spurring
his horse, he dashed down into Chapman's line, and in alittle
while rode back out of the woods, with his leg mangled and bleeding from the rebel balls. The bright, glowing future as a cavalry
leader, to which he had looked, was gone-and yet he rode back
proudly and calmly, and heard without a murmur the sentence of
the Surgeon, that the limb must come off immediately. Heroically
submitting to the dangerous amputation, he asked to be taken
home at once, was placed in an ambulance, taken to Harper's
Ferry —twenty miles away-and the same night started homeward,
his energy remaining unbroken throughout the entire journey.
Exposed to the terrible fire of the infantry in front and the desperate onslaughts of the cavalry on both flanks, Early's beaten
army finally crumbled up and gave way, the remorseless cavalry
riding over the frightened masses until the retreat became a general
stampede. The Third New Jersey galloped off to the left, turned
and charged into the road just at dusk.  The enemy perceiving
the exposed position of the little regiment, turned upon it with a
terrible fire, from which it managed, however, to get away, and
hostilities ceased for the night.
In all the skirmishes and battles which followed, as the army
marched up the Valley, the Third Division bore an important part.
Wilson, whose perfect conduct began to be duly appreciated by
the soldiers of the division, was promoted to the full rank of
Major-General and sent to the Southwest, and his place supplied
by General George A. Custer. Captain A. C. M. Pennington, of
the regular artillery, was appointed Colonel of the Third New
Jersey, and being the only officer of that rank in the brigade, took
the place of Mcintosh. Many of the old men of the Harris Light
had gone home, their term of service having expired, and their
places were soon filled by strange recruits.  Yet a few  of the
Sussex men who had re-enlisted remained, and with these we
hasten on to the end.




JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.                  749
The Battle of Cedar Creek, on the 19th of October, made Custer's Division famous almost throughout the world.  Undisturbed
by the disaster in the morning, this division moved from the extreme right of the line, and went into position on the left of the
Sixth Corps, near Newtown.  By the aid of the cavalry, the Sixth
Corps held that position until the arrival of Sheridan.   The
presence of the First and  Third Divisions of Cavalry had as
much to do with checking the rebels as did the pillaging of our
camps, to which is generally ascribed Early's failure to follow up
his successes.  When Sheridan had fully completed his preparations for attack, Custer's and Merritt's Divisions moved back to
the right, and the whole army dashed forward against the rebels
with irresistible force, breaking their lines and compelling them
again to fly. Then the cavalry surpassed itself. Like a wild tornado it burst upon the bewildered foe, and rode down regiment
after regiment, until thousands of rebels were left wandering in
the rear, while battery after battery was overtaken and brought
back to the delighted General.  Custer's Division  alone took
twenty-six pieces of artillery, and pursued the enemy far beyond
Fisher's Hill without halting.  Custer's memorable address to his
soldiers at the close of this fight, expresses his own proud admiration of their gallantry:
" The history of this war, when truthfully written, will contain no brighter page
than that upon which is recorded the chivalrous deeds and the glorious triumphs of
the soldiers of the Third Division."-Extract from General Orders, 19th of October,
Cedar Creek.
On the 28th of February, 1865-just one year after the Kilpatrick raid upon Richmond-the Third Division, enlarged by the addition of Capehart's splendid brigade of loyal West Virginians, and
the First New York Cavalry, marched through Winchester and
took the broad Staunton Turnpike up the Valley, followed by the
First Division, making in all a " column of fours" twelve miles
long.  Behind this column came a pontoon and wagon train, the
latter carrying only ammunition, coffee, sugar and salt-an indication that the troops were to live upon the country, and do their
own fighting. Sheridan rode with this column, leaving his " army"
behind. The cavalry were now the army.




750           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
For twenty days this column marched over Virginia at will, capturing the remnants of Early's Army at Waynesboro', destroying
railroad bridges, track, depots, &c., and almost demolishing the
Richmond and Kanawba Canal. Not having sufficient pontoons to
bridge the James, Sheridan, after menacing Lynchburg, marched
down the river, circled around Richmond, and made a demonstration with Custer's Division upon the city, from the direction of
Ashland Station, which drew out Pickett's Division of infantry.
Custer having orders not to bring on an engagement, let the enemy
play with the Harris Light, while he prepared to fall back. A
battalion of the regiment, well out on the old telegraph road, first
received the enemy and fought him persistently until completely outflanked by a whole brigade, when it retired down the road, the enemy
following through the pines in line of battle.  In the meantime,
two companies with Spencer carbines were dismounted by Colonel
Randal, and concealed behind a little hedge or fence, in the midst
of the pine thicket. As still as death these men lay, flat on the
ground, as the rebels came on, cursing and swearing at having to
march in line through such a thicket. Lieutenant-Colonel Birdseye, behind a pine bush, kept watch. Close up to the hedge came
the enemy-almost upon it. Then from behind the bush came the
order, clear and sharp, " Fire!" Rising in one mass, the squadron delivered each man his seven bullets right into the face of the
astounded brigade.  Back flew the rebels without firing a shot;
and at Five Forks many of them  asked for the men who fought
them at Ashland.  Amidst the cheers of the regiment, the gallant
squadron-all new men-mounted their horses and rode off as
coolly as veterans.
Late in March, in presence of Abraham Lincoln and General
Grant, Sheridan's Cavalry marched across Grant's pontoons and
joined the Army of the Potomac, south of the James, and again
was united with the old Second Division.
The Third Division entered the fight at Dinwiddie Court House
late on the 31st, and decided the action of that day. At daylight
the next morning, 1st of April, Pennington's and Capehart's Brigades, dismounted, began to skirmish for position. Lying close up




JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.             751
to the enemy these brigades marched by the right flank, in single
file, along the enemy's line, until near Five Forks, when the skirmishing became very hot. Capeheart's Brigade was drawn out and
mounted, leaving Pennington's alone on foot. The latter closed
up directly and formed line just in front of Five Forks, a portion
of the First Division, Fitzhugh's Brigade, on its right, and Custer's
two mounted brigades on the left, lapping the right flank of the
enemy's works. The Fifth Corps was further to the right, beyond
the First Division. Pennington's Brigade unquestionably was the
forlorn hope of that battle. Directly in front of the strongest point
of the enemy's huge works covering the Five Forks, the little
brigade advanced, at a given signal, out into the open ground, when
it was met with a terrible, withering fire of musketry and artillery,
too hot for mortal to stand. In vain our men essayed to reach the
works. Our Spencers could not penetrate great logs. Amidst
curses and groans and the yells of the enemy, the baffled brigade
reeled back into the woods, where the rebel shot and shell crashed
among the trees and tore men to atoms. Again the bugle sounded
the charge, and away dashed the brigade.  Again was the open field
strewn with its dead. Regiments crumbled up and shrank back
into the woods. This was slaughter.  One-fourth of the brigade
was lying on the ground, dead or dying. The shot and shell flew
through the woods, even cutting down the trees. In this tempest
of death a young boy attached to Pennington's headquarters rode
gayly along the line with a large box of cartridges, which he threw
out by handfulls to the men, who seized them as they would have
seized golden coin. This was continued by the little hero until all
were supplied. Once more the bugles sounded. Less confidently,
but more angrily and sternly, the brigade advanced into the open
ground, and Spencers and muskets rattled away furiously.' Forward! Forward i" the bugles rang out unceasingly; a terrible roar
and yell came from the right as the Fifth Corps this time charged
with the cavalry. Sheridan and his flag went over the works, followed by Pennington's men and all the rest. The day closed on a
great victory, won as much by Pennington's Brigade as by any
troops engaged. Custer passing over the ground occupied by this




752           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
brigade, expressed surprise.  He had not known how hard his
brigade had fought until then. Major O'Keefe —who left Sheridan's staff and took service in the Harris Light, in order to gain
experience in active fighting-had fallen in the first charge, far in
advance of his battalion.  Four or five noble men went out amidst
a shower of cowardly bullets and brought him  in.  Profusely
bleeding from five wounds, he was finally taken to the rear just as
a courier rushed back with the news of our victory.  Faint from
pain and loss of blood, O'Keefe raised up and gave three cheers,
and sank back exhausted. He lived a month, and died universally
mourned by a large circle of friends, from General Sheridan down
to the private soldier.  On his death bed, Sheridan handed him
an appointment upon his staff, with the rank of Brevet LieutenantColonel. That was the only inscription upon his coffin. The
Government sent a regiment of cavalry to escort his remains to
the express office, whence they were forwarded to Canada.  He
was of a noble Irish family, and came here at the first outbreak of
the war to offer his services to our Government.  Though but
twenty-three years of age at the time of his death, he had with a
few friends raised a regiment and taken it into the Pope's army in
Italy, where he had won considerable distinction before our war
broke out. This man, so brave, so passionate, yet so gentle, so
manly and generous, deserves more than passing mention, and we
gladly name him here. because-almost a stranger in our landthere are few who know of the great sacrifices he made for the
cause he had espoused.
On the 3d of April, the Third New Jersey and Harris Light
fought the remnants of Pickett's and Johnson's Divisions at Sweathouse Creek, losing both together about forty men, and inflicting a
much greater loss on the enemy, who finally shook off the two
regiments, and continued his retreat. In this fight, among the
killed was Sergeant J. Nelden Probasco, a promising young Jerseymen.  On the 6th, Pennington's Brigade, after much fighting
during the day, helped to capture Ewell's Corps towards night, the
Harris Light taking one thousand and five hundred prisoners and
the brigade nearly three thousand, with many flags and guns. On




JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.             753
the 8th, the Harris Light came first upon the head of Lee's Army at
Appomattox Station, and in the confusion of the rebels, ran off
three trains of cars loaded with army stores, before Lee's troops
could get any rations from them. This precipitated the regiment
into a hot fight, the Third New Jersey coming to the rescue. The
fight grew larger as more troops arrived, and Custer eventually
had to ask for assistance from the First Division.  The action closed
about midnight with the capture of a battery and the abandonment
of the position held by the enemy. The guns were divided between the Harris Light and Third New Jersey.
The next morning closed the fighting of the Cavalry Corps.
When the flag of truce was discovered, Custer's and Davies' Divisions were on a charge around the enemy's front, and would have
been upon the rebels in less than a minute. After the surrender,
the cavalry marched nearly to North Carolina, when, receiving news
of Johnston's capitulation, it turned and marched back to Petersburg, and thence across the country to Washington, where it took
part in the Grand Review, and leaving its laurels at the feet of the
Nation's representatives, and bidding good-bye to war, it turned
Northward and disappeared as a body forever.
The number of Jerseymen who served in other organizations
credited to New  York, cannot be precisely ascertained.  It is
known that Company A, of the Twentieth New York Volunteers,
was composed. of citizens of this State, who served with eminent
distinction. A company of men from Rahway also formed the
nucleus of Bramhall's Battery. Originally going out as Company
K, of the Ninth New York State Militia, the men were subsequently sent to Poolesville, and there organized as a six-gun battery, receiving recruits from New Jersey and New York.  The
battery participated in McClellan's campaign, being attached to
Hooker's Division, of HeiDtzleman's Corps.  Subsequently it was
formed into flying artillery, and attached to Gregg's Cavalry Division, with which it remained until May, 1864, when it was sent to
Washington, and thence into the Shenandoah.  The battery was
95




754           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
distinguished as one of the best in the service.  The Jerseymen
connected with it as officers were: Walter M. Bramhall, First
Lieutenant; Joseph Martin, Second Lieutenant; Moses P. Clark,
Second Lieutenant. Bramhall subsequently became Captain, Martin, First Lieutenant, and George W. Brown, Second Lieutenant. Bramhall afterwards resigning, Martin was promoted to Captain, Clark to First Lieutenant, and Wade Wilson to Second Lieutenant.
There were also two companies of Jerseymen in Serrell's Engineers, both of which achieved distinction by their gallant and faithful services, though they never received the credit to which they
were entitled at the hands of superiors.
The Forty-eighth New York Regiment had two companies of
Jerseymen-D  and II. This regiment was raised by Reverend
James Perry, D. D., pastor of the Pacific Street M. E. Church,
in Brooklyn, who was a graduate of West Point, and had served
in the Mexican War.  The regiment was mustered at Camp
Wyman, near Fort Hamilton, Long Island, in the summer of 1861,
and was known as the Continental Guards. The moral character
of the regiment was not surpassed, perhaps, by that of any regiment in the army, for in addition to undergoing the severe physical examination, each man was required to furnish evidence of his
moral standing, and none were received who could not satisfy the
commandant upon this point.  Company D, recruited mainly in
Trenton, was commanded by Captain D. C. Knowles, professor in
Pennington Seminary, with James O. Paxson as First, and John
Bodine as Second Lieutenants. Before leaving for Washington (on
the 16th of September, 1861), the regiment was attached to Brigadier-General E. T. Viele's Brigade. On the 5th of October, leaving Washington, the command proceeded to Annapolis, Maryland,
where it joined General Sherman's Expeditionary Corps, subsequently called the Tenth Corps. While there, a detail from Company D, acted as provost-guard, the city having been put under
martial law. The expedition left Annapolis on the 21st, and after
a stormy and perilous voyage, reached Port Royal, which was
attacked and taken-the Forty-eighth Regiment landing in South




JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.             755
Carolina on the 10th of November.  On the 23d, forty-five men
from Company D, with a like number from other companies, were
detailed to build fortifications, in which work they exhibited both
endurance and a high degree of efficiency. On the 1st of January,
1862, the regiment took part in the battle of Port Royal FerryCompany D, together with Company H, and some others being
detailed as skirmishers, and performing distinguished service. On
the 26th, embarking on the steamer Winfield Scott, the regiment
proceeded to operate against Fort Pulaski, the right wing landing
at Pine Island, where, on February 1st, the steamer having got
aground, Company D joined it, being placed in the right center of
the command.  On the 20th of March, the company proceeded to
Jones' Island, where it remained until the 25th of Miay, when, Fort
Pulaski having been taken, it was sent thither with the regiment
and placed on garrison duty.  Here, on June 18th, the Colonel
died very suddenly.  On the 8th of July, Captain Knowles left
the regiment, his resignation having been accepted, and was succeeded by Lieutenant J. O. Paxson, promoted. On the 9th, Company
D was sent to Tiber Island to relieve Company F, but only remained until the 19th, when it returned to Fort Pulaski, and
remained on duty until late in September, when it formed part of
an expedition against Blufton on Bull's Island.  On the 22d of
October it went on another expedition with the regiment up the
Broad River-attacking a train of rebel soldiers, and subsequently
tearing up the railway track and destroying the telegraph line.
This was during the battle of Pocataligo Bridge, which inflicted
severe damage on the enemy.  On the 10th of November, the
Forty-eighth having returned to Fort Pulaski, Company D was
placed in charge of a battery of five guns, and from this time until
June, 1863, continued uninterruptedly on garrison duty.
When General Gilmore assumed command of the Department of
the South, this company, with seven others, was withdrawn from
the fort and formed into a battalion, as part of General Strong's
Brigade, which was composed of the best troops in the Tenth Corps,
selected to lead the assault on Fort Wagner. On the 10th of
July, crossing Light-house Inlet in small boats, under a severe




756           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
fire, the battalion assaulted and carried the works on the lower
end of Morris Island. On the 18th, Company D, which was now
known, from the burden of its favorite hymn, as "The Die-noMores," formed part of the storming pCrty which assaulted Fort
Wagner, fighting bravely, but being almost annihilated by the
terrible fire of the enemy. Its gallant leader, Captain Paxson,
was killed, together with Sergeant J. G. Abbott and many others,
all soldiers brave and true.  One account says that of sixty-five
men who marched to the assault, only twelve or fifteen came out
unharmed. Sergeant Abbott was a soldier of marked intelligence
and worth, and his record of the campaign, as faithfully kept and
preserved, forms a remarkably complete history of all the operations of the Department of the South up to the time when he fell.
The survivors of the company served faithfully to the end, and in
every emergency showed themselves worthy representatives of the
historic fields of Trenton and Monmouth.  The services of Company H were equally efficient, and the record of the company no
less honorable.
The number of Jerseymen. identified with Pennsylvania regiments was quite large.  Among the companies of which we have
accounts, was one raised in Belvidere by Charles W. Buttz, which,
our quota being full, proceeded to Philadelphia and was there
(September 13, 1861,) mustered in as Company I, of Harlan's
Independent Cavalry, afterwards designated as the Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavalry-Mr. Buttz accepting the position of the Second
Lieutenant. After various movements, the regiment proceeded to
Fortress Monroe, remaining in that vicinity until May, 1862, when
it was divided, five companies being sent to Norfolk, and the other
seven following McClellan up and down the Peninsula-Company
I, known as the "Jersey Company," being with the latter. Subsequently, being stationed at Williamsburg, these companies performed picket duty, the regiment some time later being re-united
at Suffolk under Colonel Spear. In 1863, during the Maryland
invasion, General Dix, then commanding at Fortress Monroe, sent




JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.           757
the regiment by way of Hanover Court House to destroy the railroad leading from Gordonsville and Fredericksburg to Richmondwhich service it performed, capturing a large wagon train and
some two thousand horses and mules, with other property. At
thg South Anna River, Company I, with others, was dismounted
and had a sharp engagement with the enemy, having three men
killed and eight wounded.  Returning to Suffolk, the regiment
was dispatched on a scouting expedition along the Blackwater
River. During this expedition, Lieutenant Buttz, with twenty-five
of his men, engaged three hundred of the enemy, and by a dashing
charge succeeded in taking sixty-seven of the number prisoners
and capturing a "rocket battery," with a good supply of ammunition.  The enemy thus handsomely routed by the Jerseymen,
consisted of members of the Second Georgia Cavalry and one
company of infantry.  Thirty-two of the prisoners had severe
wounds in the head, inflicted by the sabers of the assailants, whose
loss was only one killed and three wounded. While in this department, Lieutenant Buttz was on several occasions detailed for service
on court martials, as Judge Advocate, and for a period of two
months was Provost Martial at Suffolk. When Longstreet beseiged
that place, Lieutenant Buttz acted as Aid-de-camp to Major-General
Peck, and on one occasion, being detailed with a part of his company for special service, captured forty-eight of the enemy-the
exploit receiving favorable mention in General Peck's report to the
War Department. During the remainder of the war, the "Jersey
Company" served with distinguished credit-of the whole number three being killed, five wounded, and two taken prisoners and
never afterwards heard of. Among the killed was Corporal Iann,
of Hope, Warren County, who was shot through the heart by a
guerilla named Smith, who was afterwards captured by Hann's
comrades and hung "without benefit of clergy."  Hann was a
brave and noble soldier-one of the bravest of the regiment to
which he belonged.  Of the whole number of survivors, only
eighteen or twenty members of the company returned to New
Jersey, the remainder settling in Virginia.  Lieutenant Buttz,
upon quitting the service, commenced the practice of the law at




758           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Norfolk, where he became prominent in political movements. He
has received two brevets-one as Captain " for gallant and meritorious conduct in capturing from the enemy a full rocket battery,"
and the other as Major " for gallant and meritorious services in
front of Suffolk' -both dating from March 13, 1865.
Of individual Jerseymen who served in organizations of other
States, or in the field at large, there were many who achieved distinction. Of these, only a few, however, of whose services accounts
have fortunately been obtained, can be named in this connection.
Captain William E. Sturges, of Newark, entered the service as
Quartermaster of the Second Regiment, but developing superior
executive qualities, was early advanced to a position on the staff
of General Kearney.  Here he performed his duties with marked
credit, displaying the most fearless gallantry in action, and winning
the cordial commendation of his commander, expressed in official
reports and otherwise. At Williamsburg, he was " brave, active
and judicious," and in subsequent engagements, finely sustained
the reputation there achieved.
Captain George B. Halstead, of Newark, was among the earliest
volunteers in the National service.  On the 16th of April, 1861,
he was made Secretary of Commodore Stringham, commanding the
Home Squadron, and subsequently of his successor, Commodore
Goldsborough, with whom  he remained until November 9th.
Meanwhile, General Iearney having (August 31st,) offered him a
staff position and secured his appointment as First Lieutenant, he
reported to that officer, November 11th, for duty as Aid-de-camp,
remaining with him until invited by General C. C. Augur to accept,
with the permission of General Kearney, the position of Assistant
Adjutant-General on his staff. Being nominated and confirmed
Assistant Adjutant-General of Volunteers, with rank as Captain of
cavalry, he joined General Augur at Upton Hill, Virginia, in
January, 1862, where he commanded a brigade of New York
troops. Captain Halstead remained in this position until General
Augur was relieved, on account of sickness, of the command of his




JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.             759
division in the Nineteenth Corps, after the surrender of Port Hudson, July 9, 1863. During this period, Captain Halstead participated in several severe engagements, being taken prisoner in the battle
of Cedar Mountain, in Angust, 1862, while carrying an order to
a distant part of the field. After remaining some two months in
Libby Prison, Richmond, he was paroled, and subsequently being
regularly exchanged, rejoined his command in time to participate in
the Banks' Expedition to Louisiana. In July, 1863, he was assigned
to duty as Assistant Adjutant-General of the Corps d'Afrique, Brigadier-General George L. Andrews commanding, with headquarters
at Port Hudson, where he remained until the spring of 1864, when
he was ordered North and assigned to duty in Tennessee with
Brigadier-General Augustus L. Chetlain, with headquarters at Memphis. Captain Halstead remained in this department, engaged in
organizing colored troops, until late in the summer, when he was
ordered to Washington, and subsequently to his home in New Jersey to await orders. His next assignment to duty was with MajorGeneral G. K. Warren, commanding the Fifth Corps, Army of the
Potomac, then actively besieging Petersburg.  Here he remained
until the close of the war, participating in all the movements of
the corps, and sharing in the battles of Quaker Road, AWhite Oak
Road (where he was wounded but remained on the field), Five
Forks, and Appamattox Court House. After the dissolution of
the Armies, he was ordered to duty with Brigadier-General John
Ely, at Trenton, where he remained until he received his honorable discharge, March 12, 1864, having been in the Nation's service,
on sea and land, for a period of five years, lacking one month and
four days.  He was given a brevet Majority, April 9, 1865, for
gallant and meritorious services, which was but a fit recognition of
the fidelity and efficiency with which he had discharged the duties
of every position in which he had been placed. Captain Halsted
was an early advocate of the organization of negro regiments, and
while in the Gulf Department did as much as any other man to
promote the utilization of the blacks by converting them into soldiers, and educating them in the soldier's duty.  There, as elsewhere, he was esteemed by all who came in contact with him as a




760           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
genuine patriot and intrepid officer, whose whole heart was in the
work in which he was engaged.
George Arrowsmith, a native of Middletown, Monmouth County,
entered the service as a Captain of the Twenty-sixth New York
Regiment, May 26, 1861.  This regiment was assigned to Brigadier-General McDowell's Division, where, in a short time, Arrowsmith's intrepidity gained for him universal favor. In the fight of
Culpepper, his gallantry was so conspicuous as to lead to his promotion by General Towers, to be Assistant Adjutant-General of
his brigade. In the second battle cf Bull Run he again distinguished himself, and, when General Towers was wounded, led his
command. At one time, not recognizing the rank of General
Schenck, he rallied and led two regiments into the fight, amid a
shower of grape and canister. His services at this battle gained
marked encomiums from General McDowell, and one of the General's staff wrote:'"Arrowsmith has covered himself with glory."
Although not wounded, his cap and clothes bore evidences of his
narrow escape. Subsequently, he was offered the Colonelcy of the
One Hundred and Seventy-seventh New York, but declining the
position, was made Lieutenant-Colonel, in which capacity he distinguished himself at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. In the
latter battle, with his hat in one hand and his sword in the other,
he went forward exclaiming, " Come, boys, follow me!" Suddenly
the Colonel found his Lieutenant missing, and moving to the right
discovered him lying on his back, badly wounded in the head,
evidently insensible, and near his end.  So terrible had been the
exposure to which he had led his men, that only eighty out of four
hundred and twenty who went in came out of the fight, and but
eight officers out of twenty-six remained. Owing to the hot fire
of the enemy, it was impossible to remove him, and his wounded
comrades report that in a very short time he died. His Colonel
describes him  as "a brave man, a skillful officer, possessing a
keen sense of honor, generous to a fault, and of the noblest
impulses."  And we may add that he was a truly religious man.
His body has its resting place in Fairview Cemetery, Middletown
township; where a comely granite monument, erected by citizens




JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.              761
who loved him in his youth and graduates of his University, attests
their appreciation of his character and achievements.
Huntington W. Jackson entered the service as Second Lieutenant
of the Fourth Regiment, in September, 1862, abandoning his collegiate pursuits in order to engage in his country's defence. He
was soon promoted to First Lieutenant and Aid-de-camp to MajorGeneral Newton, of the First Army Corps, and subsequently had
a place on the staff of Major-General Howard, Army of the Tennessee, serving with the Army of the Potomac from the battle of
Antietam until April, 1864, and with the army of General Sherman, from Chattanooga to Jonesboro, Georgia. In all the battles,
including some of the severest of the war, in which he participated,
he displayed not only the highest courage but a discretion and
maturity of judgment seldom found in one of his years. In the
Chancellorsville campaign, he was commended by General Sedgwick for special gallantry in volunteering to rally an assaulting
column at Marye's Heights, Fredericksburg (May 3d, 1863). The
column had broken and the men were falling back, but Lieutenant
Jackson having obtained permission, and exposing himself to a fire
that killed and wounded one hundred and sixty men out of four
hundred in the leading regiment, rallied the column and passed
with it into the enemy's works.  General Newton, while speaking
of Lieutenant Jackson's military and personal conduct as uniformly
meritorious and effective, refers particularly to several conspicuous
acts of gallantry, using the following language:' At the battle of
Gettysburg, he was distinguished for gallant services, and at the
assault upon the rebel works at Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, June
27th, 1864, while at the front, and in the act of encouraging the
men, he was wounded and brought off the field.  While at home
recovering from  his wound, his regiment likewise being in the
course of muster out, he obtained permission to rejoin my staff, and
was present at the closing operations of General Sherman, which
led to the capture of Atlanta."2  General Howard, in a letter to the
War Department, recommended Lieutenant Jackson for three
2 Letter of General Newton to the War Department.
96




762           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
brevets, "one for special gallantry at Rocky Face Ridge, near Dalton, Georgia, one for gallantry at Kenesaw, and a third for the
battle of Jonesboro," where he served on that officer's staff. Lieutenant Jackson was brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel in 1866. Among
the many young men whose bravery and efficiency conferred honor
upon New Jersey, none were his superiors in any of the qualities
which help to constitute the perfect soldier.
Captain Joseph C. Jackson, brother of the last named, entered
the service at an early period in the war, serving for a time on the
staff of General Kearny, and subsequently on that of General
Franklin, enjoying in a large degree the confidence of both commanders. In the Peninsula campaign, his duties, necessarily arduous and difficult, were performed with marked ability and efficiency,
while on other occasions in his experience demanding courage and
sagacity, he exhibited an intelligence and zeal for the good of the
service, which secured for him an enlarged appreciation among our
best and most discriminating officers.
William S. Stryker entered the service in response to the first
call for troops, serving as a private with the three months' men.
Subsequently he assisted in organizing the Fourteenth Regiment,
and in February, 1863, was made a Paymaster and ordered to Hilton Head.  There he was made Major and Aid-de-camp to General
Gilmore, participating in the capture of Morris Island, and the
bloody night attack on Fort Wagner.  Subsequently, owing to illness, he was transferred to the North and placed in charge of the
Pay Department at Parole Camp, Columbus, Ohio.  He was breveted Lieutenant-Colonel "for meritorious services during the war,"
and resigning in June, 1866, was some months later appointed
Adjutant-General of the State. His record from first to last was
that of a brave soldier and true patriot.
Lieutenant John M. Williams, during the second year of the
war, was pursuing his studies in the college of New Jersey, but
filled with patriotic ardor, in September of that year, in company
with several of his classmates, enlisted in the Anderson Cavalry,
as a body-guard to General Rosecrans. Late in December, 1862,
he participated in a skirmish near Carlisle, Pennsylvania, then pro



JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.              763
ceeding to Tennessee, where he was for a time engaged in guerilla
warfare.  "His courage in battle and his coolness in the hour of
danger soon impressed his superior officers, and he was appointed
a Lieutenant and Adjutant of the Seventeenth Kentucky Volunteers.  He was prostrated by ever, and yet so eager was he to discharge his duty that at the request of his Colonel he took the oath
of office while reclining upon his couch. But he could not enter
upon his duties, for he fell in the very outset of his career. He
died of typhoid fever, August 9, 1863, at McMinville, Tennessee."'
Colonel Cornelius W. Tolles entered the service as the private
secretary of General Runyon in the spring of 1861, but was soon
made Assistant Adjutant-General of the detached (militia) brigade.
On the 17th of August, of the same year, he was appointed First
Lieutenant of the Thirteenth Regular Infantry, and a year later
assumed the position of Chief Quartermaster of the Sixth Army
Corps, retaining it under Generals Franklin, Sedgwick and Wright.
In this responsible and arduous position he discharged his duties
with marked ability and fidelity, insomuch that much of the efficiency of that celebrated corps is said by competent authority to
have been due to his influence and exertions. He was under fire
in nearly all the battles of the Army of the Potomac, and saved
the material of the army both in the retreat to Harrison's Landing
and in the retrograde movement from Centerville to Drainesville.
On other occasions he displayed the same high efficiency, extorting
praise from all who were cognizant of his services. General Meigs
at one time commended his worth in a general order, and the Secretary of War mentioned his name with honor in his report. Colonel Tolles possessed high intellectual ability, having before the
war enjoyed an exalted reputation as a journalist, and was in many
respects peculiarly qualified for that branch of the military profession in which he served. He was eminently methodical, had great
self-reliance, was incapable of fear, and acted continually, moreover, under the pressure of the profoundest patriotic feeling.
Having escaped the perils of honorable battle, he finally fell a
s " The Princeton Roll of Honor," by Professor Cameron.




764            NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
victim  to the murderous malice of guerillas in the Shenandoah
Valley. While acting as Chief Quartermaster on General Sheridai's staff, surrounded by a small escort of twenty-five men, guarding a single ambulance, himself unarmed, he was ambuscaded and
shot, and died October 11, 1864, sincerely mourned by all his army
associates, as well as by a large circle of friends in New Jersey and
elsewhere.4 
One of the first Jerseymen to enter the service of the country
in the war, was Major Lindley Hoffman Miller, son of Jacob W.
Miller, formerly United States Senator from  New Jersey.  Major
Miller had for several years been engaged in the practice of the
law in New York.  He had belonged to no military organization,
and was actively engaged in the duties of his profession. Instantly
upon the proclamation of the President, in April, 1861, he left his
office and sought a place as private in the Seventh Regiment, then
about to move to Washington.  Sacrificing the happiness of a near
betrothal, he marched with that regiment on the 20th of April,
and shared in the duties of that first campaign.   Again in the
summer of 1862 he left his bride at the altar to obey the order,
summoning the regiment to its second term  of service at that
critical period. In the fall of 1863, he entered the army as a
Captain in the First Regiment of Arkansas Volunteers (colored),
for permanent service.   His conduct in  several most trying
positions was so well appreciated by his superior officers that he
was soon promoted to the rank of Major in a new colored regiment
in Missouri. During a short visit to his home before entering on
his new duties, he died in New York, July 2, 1864, from a fever
which he had contracted during his Western  campaigns.  His
military career, though in itself unimportant, furnished an example of that lofty spirit of patriotism in which the war was so
fruitful. Surrounded by friends, in a promising and lucrative pro4 General Sheridan, in a letter to Professor Cameron, of Princeton College, says of
Colonel Tolles: "The ability, energy and perseverance displayed by Colonel Tolles,
while surrounded as he was during the time he served in the Valley, by the innumerable difficulties which naturally attend an army newly and quickly organized, stamped
him as one of the ablest officers in his department. I cannot say too much in his
praise."




JERSEYZMET IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.            765
fessional position, possessing in a high degree the "genius to
be loved," he surrendered all to his convictions of duty, and
gave himself, instantly and without hesitation, to the cause of
Liberty and Progress.  Urged by no selfish ambition, tempted by
no high position, he simply felt that the cause called him-that his
country needed self-sacrificing men-and having a life-to give, he
gave it.




CHAPTER XLI.
THE   INVASION   OF   PENNSYLVANIA  IN   1863.
EARLY in the month of June, 1863, the rebel army under General Lee, abandoning its position in Virginia, suddenly  invaded
Pennsylvania, and moving swiftly to various important points,,occupied them in force, while detachments of cavalry were advanced
towards Harrisburg and other strategical centers. The alarm occasioned  by these demonstrations of the enemy was profound and
universal. The authorities of Pennsylvania, unable to furnish sufficient troops to offer any effective resistance to the invaders, called
upon the Governors of adjoining States for aid in the work of defence-the first appeal from  Governor Curtin to Governor Parker
of this State being made by telegram, on the 15th day of June.
In response to this appeal, Governor Parker on the 17th, issued
two proclamations-one calling for volunteers to "press forward to
the assistance of Pennsylvania in this emergency," and the other
appealing to the nine months' regiments which had just returned
to unitCen the effort to repel the invasion of a sister State.  Under
the first of these proclamations, Colonel William R. Murphy (formerly Colonel of the Tenth Regiment,l) started from Bordentown
1 Colonel Murphy, at the time the war commenced, was in command of a militia
company, known as "Company A, National Guard," of Trenton. On the day that
the President's proclamation calling for troops was issued, Captain Murphy called a
meeting of the company to determine what course it should pursue, but on the same
day (April 16, 1861,) an order was placed in his hands by the Adjutant-General directing him to report for duty to the Quartermaster-General to garrison the State Arsenal.
This duty was faithfully performed, and subsequently many of the men served bravely
in the field. Colonel Murphy was a genuine soldier, and his efforts in reorganizing
the Tenth Regiment were especially valuable.  In reference to his company, here
alluded to, the Adjutant-General of the State, says: " Company A, National Guard, of
Trenton, was organized November 30, 1860, and at the time the war broke out was in a
fine state of discipline. It had in its ranks the best young men of the city. It was
the first company under arms in the North, and it is claimed, as I think with truth,




THE INVASION  OF PENNSYLVANIA  IN  1863.                      767
on the morning of the 18th with one company, reaching Harrisburg at twelve o'clock the same night-some hours before any of
the volunteers from Philadelphia arrived. Three other companies
that Captain Murphy issued the first military order which was promulgated after the
publication of the President's proclamation. From the hour when the company was
detailed for service at the State Arsenal, the most vigorous discipline commenced,
and Captain Murphy became the great drill-master of the organization. Of the fiftysix men on constant duty there, forty-five enlisted in the army or received commissions therein. The company boasts to-day, with none to challenge it, that it sent, for
its size, more men to the war than any organization in the North. On the 19th of
June, 1863, having recruited their depleted ranks, under the call of Governor Curtin' for the emergency,' they hurried to Harrisburg, passing on the route Pennsylvania
companies organizing, and were the first to report to Governor Curtin for assignment
to duty. As men of another State they were warmly complimented by him for their
alacrity and splendid discipline."
The following shows the subsequent career of some of the men connected with this
organization:
Corporal George Heisler, Second Lieutenant, United States Marines; First Lieutenant, United States Marines; injured by concussion of shell at the attack on New
Orleans; assisted for two hours on flag-ship Hartford, in the bombardment of Vicksburg; died a few hours thereafter in the hospital at Memphis, Tennessee. Corporal
James W. McNeely, First Lieutenant, Company G, Tenth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers; Captain, Company G, Tenth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers; Major,
Second New Jersey Volunteers; Lieutenant-Colonel, Second New Jersey Volunteers;
Colonel, Second New Jersey Volunteers. Corporal Henry R. Clark, Second Lieutenant, Company A, Fifth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers; killed at the battle of Gettysburg. Joseph Abbot, jr., First Lieutenant, Company B, Seventh Regiment, New
Jersey Volunteers; aid to General Hooker; Provost-Marshal of Hooker's Division,
rank of Captain; Captain, Company B, Seventh Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers;
killed at the battle of second Bull Run. Caldwell K. Hall, Adjutant, Fifth Regiment,
New Jersey Volunteers; Chief of Ordnance, General Hooker's Staff; Aid to General
Patterson; wounded at the battle of Williamsburg: Major, Fourteenth New Jersey
Volunteers; Lieutenant-Colonel, Fourteenth New Jersey Volunteers; brevet Brigadier-General, United States Volunteers. James C. Hunt, First Lieutenant, Company
I, First New Jersey Cavalry; Second Lieutenant, Second Cavalry (Regulars); Adjutant, Second Cavalry; First Lieutenant, Second Cavalry; Captain, Second Cavalry;
brevet Major. De Klyn Lalor, First Lieutenant, Company E, Fifth New Jersey Volunteers; killed at the battle of Williamsburg. Daniel Loder, jr., First Lieutenant,
Company A, Sixth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers; Aid to General Peck; Major,
Tenth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers. William C. McCall, First Lieutenant, Company B, Sixth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers; Captain, Fourteenth Infantry (Regulars). Charles J. McConnell, Third Assistant Engineer, United States Navy; Second
Assistant Engineer, United States Navy; First Assistant Engineer, United States
Navy.  John C. MeLaughlin, enlisted in Company K, Twenty-third Pennsylvania
Volunteers; Fourth Sergeant, Company K, Twenty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers;
Third Sergeant, Company K, Twenty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers; taken prisoner
in hospital at Savage's Station, Virginia; released, and died soon after in the hospital
at Philadelphia. Charles V. C. Murphy, First Lieutenant, Company A, Tenth New
Jersey Volunteers; Deputy Provost Marshal of Washington, District of Columbia;
Aid to General Wadsworth; prisoner at Richmond. T. Malcolm Murphy, SergeantMajor, Second New Jersey Cavalry; Captain, Company A, Third New Jersey Cavalry;
Major, Third New Jersey Cavalry. William Sloan, Sergeant, Company A, Fifteenth
New Jersey Volunteers; Captain, United States Colored Troops; Second Lieutenant,




768              NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
from New Jersey followed, all with orders to report to Colonel
Murphy, which they did.  The command when complete was constituted and officered as follows: Company A, National Guard, of
Trenton, Lieutenant Bellville commanding; Company B, of Trenton, Captain  Marshall commanding;  Company  C, of Trenton,
Captain  Manning  commanding; Company  D, of Lambertville,
Captain Hughes commanding.  There was also a company from
Camden, under command of Captain James M. Scovel, who were
ordered by the commanding General to report to Colonel Murphy
for duty, but as soon as the order was promulgated, the company
unaccountably disbanded-a fact which perhaps needs no comment.
Soon after the command reached Harrisburg, an order was issued
by the War Department directing that all troops volunteering for
the defence of Pennsylvania should be mustered into the service
of the United States for six months unless sooner discharged.  This
created a considerable commotion among the men,2 and Governor
Eleventh United States Infantry. John Stull, enlisted in Company K, Twenty-third
Pennsylvania Volunteers; Second Sergeant, Twenty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers;
First Sergeant, Twenty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers; First Lieutenant, Company
K, Third New Jersey Cavalry. William S. Stryker, Paymaster, United States Army;
Aid to General Gillmore, with the rank of Major, in the siege of Charleston; brevetted
Lieutenant-Colonel; Adjutant-General of New Jersey. Caleb C. Vansyckle, enlisted
in Company C, Fourth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers; First Sergeant, Company
C, Fourth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers; Second Lieutenant, Company C, Fourth
Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers; prisoner at Richmond; First Lieutenant, Company F, Fourth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers; Captain, Company H. Peter D.
Vroom, Adjutant, First Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers; wounded in the battle of
South Mountain; Major, Second New Jersey Cavalry; First Lieutenant, Third United
States Cavalry (Regulars); brevetted Captain and Major. Edgar Whittaker, enlisted
in Company C, Fourth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers; Second Sergeant, Company
C, Fourth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers; First Sergeant, Company C, Fourth
Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers; Second Lieutenant, Company C, Fourth Regiment,
New Jersey Volunteers; Adjutant, Twenty-ninth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers;
Aid-de-camp to General G. B. Paul. John J. Willis, Captain, Company C, Eleventh
New Jersey Volunteers. Aaron Wilks, Second Lieutenant, Company B, Sixth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers; First Lieutenant, Company B, Sixth Regiment, New
Jersey Volunteers; Adjutant, Sixth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers; killed at the
battle of Williamsburg. Samuel K. Wilson, jr., Captain, Company I, Twenty-eighth
Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers; Major, Twenty-eighth Regiment, New Jersey
Volunteers. James C. IIillman, Third Assistant Engineer, United States Navy.
Frank V. Payson, Assistant-Surgeon, Seventh Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers.
2 Adjutant-General Stockton, in his report for 1863, gives the following account of
the circumstances under which the "emergency men" were sent forward, and the
effect of the order of the War Department:
"On the 15th of the month, a telegram from the War Department informed the




THE INVASION  OF PENNSYLVANIA  IN  1863.                      769
Parker being unwilling to lose the control of his troops by permitting them to be mustered into the National Army, and so made
liable to be dispatched in any direction and on any service whatever,
sent his private Secretary with an order directing the return of the
troops under Colonel Murphy's command.  The  latter, however,
being unwilling to abandon Harrisburg while it was menaced by
Governor that the movements of the rebel forces in Virginia were sufficiently developed to show that General Lee, with his whole army, was moving forward to invade
Maryland, Pennsylvania and other States; that the President, to repel this invasion,
had promptly called upon Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Western Virginia for one
hundred thousand volunteers for six months, unless sooner discharged, and the Governor was requested to inform the Department what number, in answer to a special
call of the President, he could raise and forward for six months' service without
bounty, to be credited upon the draft then expected, to which answer was immediately made that every means would be taken to ascertain how many men could be
raised for such service, and that the Department would be notified of the result as
soon as ascertained. While this information was being obtained, an urgent appeal
was made by the State of Pennsylvania for assistance, in view of the expected invasion.
"' It was impossible to have men mustered into the service of the United States for
six months' service as expeditiously as would seem to be required by the appeal of
his Excellency, the Governor of Pennsylvania; the nine months' regiments had just
been returned to the State to be mustered out, and an unfortunate misunderstanding
before alluded to, gave a hesitancy to such enlistment.
"The Secretary of War was therefore informed of the appeal inde, and asked by
telegraph if recruiting for six months' service should be delayed, and State militia
forwarded to Pennsylvania; to which answer was returned,'forward to Pennsylvania all the troops you can.'
" Under these circumstances, all action under the request for volunteers or militia
for the United States service was suspended, and the Governor, by proclamation of
date of 17th of June, called upon the citizens of the State to meet and organize as
militia of New Jersey, to assist in the defence of their sister State.
"It had been determined to raise a division of some twelve thousand militia, and
from the hearty response which was made to this proclamation, it undoubtedly could
have been done in a short time, but whileee these troops were being raised, it was
deemed advisable to accept, for thirty days' service, a battalion of State militia, and
the Twenty-third and Twenty-seventh militia Regiments, under command of Colonels
Grubb and Mindil, which had volunteered their services to the State.
"These troops could be expeditiously forwarded to the succor of Harrisburg, then
supposed to be in imminent danger, while they could be subsequently relieved by the
division of State militia, which was in process of organization as has been stated; but
on the 20th of June, before this division left the State, it became evident that their
services would not be required, and the Governor accordingly paused in the exertions
being made towards raising and equipping a large militia force.
"The request of Governor Curtin, that the State militia in Pennsylvania should be
mustered into the United States service, was denied, for the reason that these troops
had been enlisted as State militia.
"This militia remained in Pennsylvania until the expiration of its term of service.
"The troops forwarded from this State had the honor of being the first effective
force that arrived at the Capital of our sister State, and the exertion on the part of
Governor Parker was gratefully acknowledged by the Governor of Pennsylvania."
97




770            NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
the enemy, induced the Governor's messenger to withhold the
order, and Major-General Couch, who commanded the department
of the Susquehannah, consenting that the troops from New Jersey
should be exempted from the order of the War Department, they
remained on duty. Soon after, the plans of the enemy being more
fully developed, Colonel Murphy received orders to occupy and
hold the pass (Clark's Ferry) at the junction of the Juniatta river
with the Susquehannah, some twenty miles west of Harrisburg.
At this time, General Early occupied Carlisle with the Stonewall
Jackson Corps, twelve thousand strong, and it was supposed that
he intended to move by way of Clark's Ferry so as to flank the
batteries in front of Harrisburg on the west bank of the Susquehannah, and attack the city in the rear. Colonel Murphy's orders
were to prevent the crossing at all hazards, but if not possible, then
to blow up the bridge over the Susquehannah.  Before marching,
a company of Pennsylvanians was placed under Colonel Murphy's
command, the entire force numbering about four hundred men.
It seemed little less than mockery to thrust this little force, without even a piece of artillery, in the path of the best corps in the
rebel army, but Colonel Murphy did not hesitate to undertake the
duty assigned him.3  Upon arriving at C]ark's Ferry, in pursuance
of orders from General Couch, he surveyed the whole position, and
finding that it would be useless to attempt to prevent the crossing
of the Juniatta, it being fordable everywhere, adopted all the
measures he could devise to hold the bridge over the Susquehannah.
Among other things, he made a hersillon at the west entrance,
removed the flooring at a point or the bridge where the distance
to the water was thirty or forty feet; built barricades on the
bridge and along the approaches to it, from which the advance of
the enemy could be checked and harrassed, and as a last resort to
impede his progress, placed six kegs of powder, with fuses attached,
and with timbers on the girders under which the powder was
3 Colonel Murphy learned a few days afterwards from a well-informed negro, who
was servant to one of Early's staff officers, that this was the route determined upon,
and that the cavalry attached to the corps had advanced six miles in the direction of
the position occupied by the Jersey command.




THE INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA IN 1863.                   771
placed, and reaching to the main cords at the top of the superstructure, so that an entire span, over the deepest part of the river,
could be blown out in ninety seconds after lighting the fuses. Here
the command remained, constant telegrams from headquarters, and
statements received by our pickets from  the mounted scouts furnished by Mr. John Wistar, proprietor of some extensive  iron
works, keeping the men lying on their arms for six days, almost
hourly expecting the advance of the enemy.4 Fortunately, however, that enemy had encountered a formidable obstacle at another
point of the field, and the Jerseymen lying on guard along the
Susquehannah were not called upon to face him in deadly conflict.
The battle of Gettysburg, where other Jerseymen fought with
royal courage, ended the invasion, and at the end of thirty days
from the time they left New  Jersey, Colonel Murphy's command
was ordered by General Couch to report at Trenton, where they
arrived July 18th, and were at once discharged.
It is no more than due to the men composing this little battalion,
to record that throughout they exhibited the highest soldierly
qualities.  Although but very few  of them  had ever seen service
before, they all endured the hardships and privations of the short
but rough campaign, and submitted to the most rigid and exacting
discipline, in a manner which would have  done credit to veterans.  They were not, indeed, called upon to meet the hazards of
battle, but their services were none the less valuable as part of the
general plan of defence, and the high motives which led them to
hasten to the assistance of a sister State, were certainly no less
deserving of honorable mention in this record of New Jersey's
part in the war for the Union.5
4 On the 8th of July, the command was ordered to Marysville, about midway between
Harrisburg and Duncannon (the latter being three miles below Clark's Ferry), and at
the junction of the Pennsylvania Central Railroad and the Northern Central Railway.
This was after the result of the battle of Gettysburg was known, and when no armed
rebels remained in the State.
5 Governor Curtin, in a letter to Governor Parker, dated June 24th, said: " I cannot
close this communication without expressing to you the thanks of the people of
Pennsylvania, for your promptness in responding to their calls, and to the people of
New Jersey for the patriotic disposition they so truly manifest, and their willingness
to take up arms for our defence." An autograph letter from President Lincoln to
Governor Parker, dated June 30th, expressed a similar acknowledgment of the efforts
made in New Jersey to get troops forward.




CHAPTER XLII.
LEGISLATION  OF  THE  WAR  PERIOD.
THius-as we have seen in the preceding pages-in the searching
struggle for national existence, New Jersey performed her part in
behalf of liberty and of Constitutional Government. Thus, by the
heroism of her sons, by the fidelity of the masses of her people to
the great principles involved in the conflict, she vindicated her
name against the sneers and reproaches of unthinking assailants,
and compelled the whole nation to respect her character. While
in some other States, disaffection flowered into open turbulence,
and unreasoning prejudices menaced with overthrow all the barriers of order, and all the safeguards of society, New Jersey, with
only here and there a malignant tory, held up with steady hand
the authority and power of the Government, faithfully fulfilling
all the obligations laid upon her by the pressure of events. There
were, indeed, occasional public expressions of sentiments which
scarcely did us honor, but they were partizan and exceptional,
and found no hearty echo among the masses of the people.
So there were men and presses which, if they did not actually
obstruct, at least had no word of cordial sympathy for the loyal
cause; but popular opinion, branding them with infamy as they
deserved, swept them aside as unworthy of confidence or respect.
Some of these men were, for seditious utterances, incarcerated as
State prisoners in Government jails; others were condemned by
juries of their peers; while others, still escaping the clutch of the
law, skulked into obscurity, smitten to the marrow by the popular
indignation and contempt.
In a country like our own, there must, obviously, always be
varieties of political opinion, seeking development and application
in hostile parties.  It would not be desirable, even were it possi



LEGISLATION OF THE WAR PERIOD.              773
ble, that all men should agree touching the many questions which
arise for determination. Antagonisms of opinion in a free society
are purifiers; even their violence serves, now and then, to shake
down abuses and expose evils which calmer controversy would not
startle from the dusty nooks where they have found refuge and
shelter. It was only natural, therefore-this being the tendency
of our life, and the necessity of our form  of government-that
there should be exhibitions of party feeling during a struggle
which impelled into the arena of discussion a vast multitude of
grave and novel questions. Even had all men agreed as to the
justice and propriety of the war itself, it could not be expected
that the whole people would concur as to all the details of
the policy upon which it should be conducted.  The people
of England, while unanimously justifying the participation of
their Government in the struggle in the Crimea, not only protested at the time against the method of that participation,
but condemn to this day the alliance in which, as they claim,
they merely gave respectability to Louis Napoleon —the man who
"strangled a nation in the night time "-without reaching a single
end, in the interest of humanity, that might not have been as
readily accomplished without his aid. All wars are irruptions of,
and violences upon, nature, and must in the nature of the case
provoke into action the baser as well as the grander passions,
developing every form of sentiment and securing to each a train
of followers.  It ought not, therefore, to excite surprise that,
during our transition period, there were conflicting parties, representing not so much perhaps antagonistic views as to the war itself,
as radically opposite sentiments as to the manner in which it should
be prosecuted, and the measures, especially those possessing a
political significance, which were adopted by the supreme authority
in furtherance of its objects. In no State, perhaps, did the sentiment
of the party which objected to the policy of the Government, find
more violent expression than in New Jersey; but outside of a
small circle of political leaders, that sentiment was merely, as we
may charitably suppose, as to matters of policy, and did not involve
any actual protest as to the essential righteousness of the struggle




774          NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
in which we were engaged.  The legislation of the war period,
during which the party in question had almost constant control of
that branch of the State Government, was in the main unexceptionable; though, in the debates upon public measures, expressions
amounting almost to avowals of sympathy with the enemy were
frequently made, they were seldom supported by acts, and even
those who ventured upon the obnoxious outgivings would have
recoiled, perhaps, from the consequences of their universal acceptance. The only conspicuous and deliberate expression of opinion
by the Legislature which seriously outraged the people, was made
in a series of resolutions and a protest adopted in March, 1863, in
which the General Government was accused of usurpation, and
Congress was solicited to appoint commissioners to meet commissioners similarly appointed by the insurgent States, " for the purpose of considering whether any, and if any, what plan may be
adopted, consistent with the honor and dignity of the National
Government, by which the present civil war may be brought to a
close." This proposition, taken in connection with the terms of the
accompanying protest, was very generally and properly regarded
as not merely disgraceful to the people of the State, but as an
insult to every soldier in the field; as exhibiting, indeed, a spirit of
cowardice and disaffection which nothing whatever could excuse.
The insurgents were still in the field with arms in their hands;
they had rebelled without cause, deliberately seeking the life of the
Nation; and for the Government to propose an armistice, or think
of peace while they still defied its authority, would have been to
abdicate the right to live, and invoke anarchy, disintegration and
death.  They were the offenders; from them must come the appeal
for a cessation of hostilities. Such was the thought and decree of
all patriotic men; and it was hence inevitable that this legislative
expression should doom all who united in it to just and deserved
infamy, as poltroons who would have lowered the Nation's flagnever yet dishonored in any combat with foreign peoples-in disgrace and defeat at the beck of traitors and insurgents whose crimes
had filled the whole world with horror.
The legislation of the State during the war period, of course




LEGISLATION OF THE WAR PERIOD.               775
covered a great variety of topics.  We have said that in the main it
was praiseworthy and patriotic, and this we now proceed to show
by a recital of the principal proceedings.  Almost immediately
upon the outbreak of hostilities, Governor Olden summoned the
Legislature to meet at Trenton for the purpose of considering the
question of defence, and it accordingly convened on the 30th of
April, at once addressing itself to the important work before it.
Its first enactment conferred upon the authorities of the City of
Newark, authority to issue bonds to the amount of one hundred
thousand dollars, the proceeds thereof to be applied to the support
of the families of persons residing in that city who might volunteer in the military service of the Union, or who might be called
into such service by the Government of this State or of the United
States.  This was followed by acts conferring similar powers upon
the authorities of Trenton, Jersey City, Rahway, Camden and
Bordentown-in all of which places, aid was thus given, during
the whole period of the war, to the families of volunteers.  An
act was also passed authorizing the State to borrow money to an
amount not exceeding two millions of dollars, to meet the necessary expenditures incurred in aiding in the suppression of the
rebellion, or in repelling any invasion of this State. A further
law was enacted authorizing the Governor, should he at any time
deem it necessary, to form, equip and arm four, or any less number
of regiments, for the protection of the State, and to detach them,
upon emergency, for the service of the United States; also to take
the necessary measures for the protection of the exposed seaboard
and river coasts of the State, and to cause the arms belonging to
the Commonwealth to be so altered as to be effective.  Authority
was also given for the purchase of ten thousand additional stand
of arms of the most approved pattern, together with such artillery
and military stores as might be necessary to the proper defence of
the State.  A law was also passed providing that the sum of six
dollars a month should be paid to the families of "such married
persons of the militia of this State, and to the widowed mothers of
such persons without families, dependent upon them for support,"
as might be mustered into the military service; and also enacting




77'6               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
that the pay of the non-commissioned officers, musicians and privates so mustered in from this State, should be increased at the rate
of four dollars a month in addition  to the pay allowed  by  lawsuch increase, however, not to  apply to  such  portion  of the State
Militia as were provided for in payment to their families.'
1 "The Supreme Court, in giving interpretation to this law, was of the opinion that
the benefits of the act were confined to those organizations of volunteers or militia
that were raised in the State by State authority, including all troops accepted by the
State, whether previously resident here or not, and that the first section of the act
extended only to families or widowed mothers having their permanent residence in
this State at the time of the enlistment of the volunteer.
"The original State pay rolls were prepared in accordance with the opinion given by
the Supreme Court of the State, and contained the names of those in State organizations who had families or widowed mothers entitled to the benefits of the act. These
rolls were forwarded to the Clerk's office of the county in which the respective families or widowed mothers resided, and payment made upon the same.  Alterations
were made from time to time, as the change of the condition of the men, or the change
of residence of the families demanded, the names of deserters, discharged and deceased
soldiers were dropped, and additions made, as the exigencies of the service required.
Alteration or correction of the rolls was made invariably under written instructions
from this office, where every attention was paid to meet the convenience of the recipients of the bounty and to promote the expeditious payment of the money. Owing to
the expeditious manner in which these corrections were sometimes made, and the
names of deceased soldiers stricken from the rolls, the families of those who died in
the service suffered materially, for this State pay was discontinued at the time when
all pay from the United States had ceased, and before the family could derive any
benefit from the back pay, bounty or pension that might be due for the services of the
deceased. The attention of the Legislature was called to this fact, and a supplement
to the original act was passed by that body and approved April 14, 1864, which provided that the pay of six dollars per month be continued to the families and widowed
mothers of those who die while in the military service of this State or of the United
States, for the space of six months after the death of such persons; provided, that
such persons are not and shall not at the time of their death be under punishment for
any military offence, under sentence of a court martial involving loss of pay; and that
if a pension shall have been or shall be paid by the United States to such family or
widowed mother before the expiration of six months from the date of the death of
such persons, then and in that case the payment authorized by this act to be made,
shall cease from and after the date of the first payment of such pension, and that the
act should take effect immediately.
"Immediate action was taken under this supplemental law-the respective paymasters being held responsible that the payment should cease, upon the receipt of
pension from the United States, before the six months expired.
" The provisions of the original act were materially extended by a further supplement approved March 31, 1865.  This provided'that the sum  of six dollars per
month shall be allowed and paid to the mothers of such persons of the militia of this
State without families, as have been or shall be mustered into the service of the
United States, where such mothers are dependent on such person so mustered in for
support, whether the husband of such mother be living or not; provided the husband of such mother has abandoned her, and left her without support, or is insane,
or fiom any other cause neglects, refuses, or is unable to support her.' The second
section provided for the payment of six dollars per month to the families of men
mustered into the service of the United States, notwithstanding the date of marriage




LEGISLATION OF THE WAR PERIOD.                  777
The legislation of the session of 1862 was in harmony with that
of the preceding year, a nuniber of acts being passed looking to
the vigorous performance by the State of all the duties which it
might be called to execute.  Among other joint resolutions was
one relative to the defences of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and
Delaware, earnestly requesting the general Government to provide
suitable and sufficient defences for the Delaware river and bay and
the harbors thereof by the construction of gunboats and other
improved means of defence, and proposing to unite with the States
above named in advancing the means for the completion of said
work, should the Government immediately consent to enter upon
it.  Nothing, however, ever came of this proposition, and it was
probably well that it was not accepted, since any expenditure for
defences of the character proposed would have been practically
worthless, there being no time during the war, after the first six
months, when the Delaware river or bay, or the harbors thereof,
were in the least exposed to the ravages of the enemy.
On the 20th of January, 1863, Joel Parker, who had been elected
Governor by a large majority in the election of the previous
November, was inducted into the Executive office, and the State,
politically, took a new departure.  Governor Parker was a Democrat, educated to regard the creed of his party as exclusively
embodying the only safe principles of government: and he had
been elected upon a platform of avowed hostility to many of the
measures adopted in the prosecution of the war.  There were some
who feared that he would be unduly controlled by the more radical
and obnoxious leaders of his party, and that his administration
would be characterized by partizan rancor rather than by broad
principles of public duty.  But Governor Parker, while intensely
wedded to the political tenets which his judgment had accepted,
was not a demagogue.  He loved applause; he would have preferred at all times to enjoy the approbation of every man in his
shall be subsequent to the enlistment. The third section extended the payment of
six dollars per month to the families or dependent mothers of naval recruits, credited
to the State. The fourth section extended the provisions of the original act to
negroes, their families or dependent mothers."-Adjutant General's Report for 1865.
98




778              NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
party; possibly he would rather have possessed their mere partizan
approval than the enlightened, impartial commendation of the
same number of political opponents; but he was a man of pure
integrity, of mainly conscientious purpose, and withal a patriot;
and he was not long in disappointing the expectations of the little
cabal who had hoped that they might induce him  to array the
State against the war, and obstruct the general Government in its
plans of defence.  It is true, he did not conceal his opposition  to
many features in the war policy of the Government.  In his inaugural, he spoke positively and emphatically as to emancipation,
arbitrary arrests and other then prominent topics; but he at the
same time denounced the rebellion as unjustifiable and pledged
himself to the performance of every work in which he might be
called to aid in maintenance of the Union. That pledge, with now
and then a partizan bias, he kept to the end; and during his administration, the general spirit of legislation was in accord with that
of previous years.2   At the session of 1863, an act was passed
2 Governor Parker was decidedly more of a partizan than his predecessor; he mingled to a much greater extent in political affairs, frequently appearing at public meetings in support of peculiarly party measures; but he did not neglect the severe routine
duties of his office, nor the interests of the State. During his official term, he wrote
with his own hand seven thousand letters, many of considerable length, and covering
a great variety of subjects. He on several occasions visited the army and reviewed
those New Jersey regiments within reach, and he claims never to have made any promotion for political reasons. A number of soldiers condemned to be shot for various
offences were saved by his intercession, and he exhibited, in other ways, a proper concern for their welfare, establishing a State Agency at Washington, and appointing Mr.
Charles D. Deshler and others as agents, to visit our troops in the field, and in the
hospitals of the Southwest and other points. During part of the war, Dr. R. R.
Corson acted as State Agent in Philadelphia, rendering important service. [The services of Mr. Deshler among the troops west of the Alleghany Mountains, it may be
here remarked, were attended by excellent results, and were performed in a manner
entirely satisfactory to the State. They covered a period of five months, during which
he secured for New Jersey soldiers many advantages which proved of permanent
value]. When General Grant crossed the Rapidan, in response to a call of the Surgeon-General for volunteer Surgeons and nurses, Governor Parker dispatched a delegation of nine physicians, together with nurses, hospital and sanitary stores-the latter
being the first articles of the kind to reach Fredericksburg after its occupation by our
troops; subsequently, in response to a second call, the Governor sent another delega.
tion of thirteen volunteer Surgeons to White House, Virginia, where their services
were of great value.
During the riots in New York, in 1863, General Wool and Mayor Opdyke applied to
Governor Parker for troops to aid in suppressing the disturbance. He replied that all
the available militia of the State had been dispatched to Pennsylvania; but even had
it been otherwise, he would probably have declined to send the men asked for, holding




LEGISLATION  OF THE WAR PERIOD.                       779
authorizing the Governor and Treasurer to borrow the additional
sum of one million dollars for war purposes, together with a number of others empowering various towns and  counties to  raise
money for the purpose of promoting volunteering.  In 1864, in
addition to a law authorizing a further loan of one million dollars,
joint resolutions were adopted authorizing the Governor to expend
three thousand dollars in the removal of the bodies of New Jersey
soldiers who died on the battle-field near Gettysburg, to the National
Cemetery at that place, and to assist in the erection of a monument, and also authorizing the appointment of Marcus L. Ward,
Daniel Haines, William  A. Newell, Edwin A. Stevens, Charles S.
Olden and Theodore S. Paul, as commissioners to make inquiries
and report what legislative provision ought to be made in behalf
of the wounded and disabled soldiers of the State, and whether a
State retreat or home should be built for such purpose. This act
was passed mainly through the efforts of the gentleman first named
as commissioner.  A  large  number of bounty laws were  also
enacted at this session; legislation of this character, indeed, occupying the greater part of the sitting. In 1865, among the first
resolutions adopted, was one authorizing an expenditure in excess
of the amount previously specified in aid of the erection of a soldier's monument at Gettysburg. A law was also passed creating
"The Soldiers' Childrens' Home," a corporation for the purpose of
that the introduction of other than domestic troops would only have tended to aggravate the disorder. When, subsequently to the battle of Monocacy, in 1864, the cities
of Washington and Baltimore were endangered, Governor Parker promptly called for
troops to meet the emergency, and, Captain R. H. Lee, of Camden, responding with a
company of militia, speedily dispatched him for duty at the Relay House, Maryland.
Governor Parker opposed, during his entire administration, what were known as
"arbitrary arrests," and at one time, upon the petition of certain citizens, appointed
Abraham Browning and Mercer Beesley, well known lawyers, to test in the United States
Courts the constitutionality of the Congressional Act regulating (and suspending) the
habeas corpus. This matter, however, was never pressed to an issue, but the action
of Governor Parker exhibited his opposition to summary procedures of the character
named, and at the time occasioned a great deal of comment. Governor Olden, however, had before him protested, in a correspondence with the State Department,
against the system of " arbitrary arrests," insisting that, at all events, every man who
might be so arrested should be afforded a speedy opportunity, upon a frank and full
statement of the charges against him, to vindicate himself; and showing that the opposite course was, in New Jersey at least, productive of evil rather than of good-inflaming the temper of the anti-war party and augmenting the difficulties of the political
situation in the State.




780           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
providing a home, supporting and educating the destitute children
of any soldier, whether living or dead, who may have been
engaged in the war for the Union. At the same time, the commissioners appointed for the purpose having reported a plan, an
act was passed authorizing the erection and establishment, at an
expense not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, of a Home for Disabled Soldiers of this State. At the session of 1866, when the
control of legislation passed into the hands of the Republican
party, an appropriation of ten thousand dollars was authorized for
the purchase of a site for the Soldiers' Childrens' Home, and an
additional appropriation of twenty thousand dollars for the erection
of suitable buildings thereon. It was also enacted that in order to
support the said Home, the sum of thirty-seven dollars and a-half
be paid, quarterly, out of the State Treasury, for each child maintained in the institution.  At the same session, the act for the
establishment of a Home for Disabled Soldiers was so far modified
as to permit the necessary grounds and buildings to be leased
instead of erected; and in pursuance of this authorization, premises
were at ence rented in the city of Newark, and the advantages
proposed by the act secured to all who chose to claim them.  The
buildings for the Childrens' Home were erected in the city of
Trenton, and already vast benefit has been conferred by the institution upon the class for whom it was specifically designed.
It is plain from this brief glance at the legislation of the war
period that there is little in it of which the State need be ashamed.
It may, in some respects, have been hesitating and reluctant;
measures may sometimes have been enacted only in obedience to
the pressure of popular opinion, or under the stimulus of urgent
importunity from public-spirited citizens; but whatever may have
been the motives or the circumstances under which certain specific
laws were passed, we have simply to deal with them as results, as
they appear upon the record, and upon each and all in harmony
with the loyal spirit of the time, can only bestow cordial and
unqualified approbation.




CHAPTE R  XLIII.
POPULAR SYMPATHY WITH  THE CAUSE.
IT was not alone in the halls of legislation that cordial response
was given to every appeal in behalf of the Cause and its defenders.
The masses of the people, everywhere, exhibited unfailing sympathy with the men in the field. No war in history was ever embellished by such matchless exhibitions of benevolence, such displays
of the Christian grace of charity, as this.  Never before were the
people so immediately related to an army in the field, so intimately identified with its fortunes, or so profoundly solicitous for
its comfort, as in this sublime struggle between centralized aristocracy and the spirit of civil and religious liberty.  As all ranks
and orders of men were found in the military service, so all sorts
and orders of households-the humblest and poorest as well as the
proudest and most palatial-became contributors alike to the
stream of sympathy which poured unceasingly into hospital and
field.  The cottage beside far away Northern lakes, the hut in the
pine forests of distant Maine, the hovel on the frontiers of Western civilization, all throbbed and glowed with prayer and sympathy
for the Nation's defenders, and from  all alike hands of blessingoften, indeed, but scantily filled, but hands of blessing all the
same-were stretched out to those who stood between the Government and its foes. The sentiment of patriotism in the hearts of
the masses, at every call for help, became a sentient force, flowering
into kindly ministrations.  This grand army of the Republic
belonged to the people; it was their representative; the embodiment of their loyal purpose; the type of their manhood; the
pledge of their fidelity. There was a day, not far removed, when
they whose feet now kept time to the music of its bugles, had
gone out from the sphere of home duties, with the kisses of loved




782           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
ones upon their foreheads, to take up the solemn work of the
field; every doorstep in the land had been pressed by some such
foot; every mother, sister, wife, some such kiss had given as a
benediction to some departing volunteer.  Was it any wonder
that thoughts of the absent ones, thus going with their lives in
their hands to do battle for the Nation, hovered perpetually about
the homes they had left behind; any wonder that when the sound
of battle came upon the drowsy air, each waiting heart grew still
and anxious; any wonder that when, as the smoke rolled away
and the field was revealed, ghastly with dead and dying, the whole
people hastened to relieve the suffering and touch with cool finger
the parched, pale lips of the smitten ones? Could these, maimed
for us, have been forgotten, and the Nation have stood guiltless
before the world? Stopping our ears to their piteous cries, could
we have prayed for God's blessing on the cause in whose defence
they had perilled all?  Shutting our eyes to the privations, perils
and neels of the field-to the coarse barbarisms of rebel prison
hells-to the sicknesses and deaths of the camp, could we have
looked with joy upon the breaking dawn of triumph or joined
with exultant voices in peans of thanksgiving?
It has been well said that one of the chief peculiarities of our
recent war was that all its methods were modified and controlled by
the great popular ideas which lie at the basis of American civilization. It was a popular war in the widest sense. Not merely was
the military policy of the time controlled by public opinion, but
everything which was accomplished, whether good or bad, was due
entirely to the impulse of popular ideas; and thus the contest presents a perfect picture of the civilization of the people engaged in
its prosecution.  And nowhere can we find a more complete exhibition of this.civilization than in those organizations of popular
enthusiasm, sympathy and benevolence wholly outside of the
Government, but all undertaken to strengthen its hands, without
whose potent influence the struggle must have been vastly prolonged, only to result at last, perhaps, in disaster. In no State was
this organized popular sympathy more promptly tendered, or more
effectively given, than in our own. With the very beginning of




POPULAR SYMPATHY WITH THE CAUSE.                783
the contest, popular attention was directed to the work of providing
means for ministering to the aid and comfort of the volunteers who
flocked to the field. Before a single regiment had left the State,
nimble fingers were engaged in fashioning articles of convenience
for those preparing to march. Nor was this impulse any less general than it was spontaneous. In every town and hamlet of the
State, men who were unable to bear arms, and women, genuine
sisters of mercy, were inspired with a zeal and enthusiasm in behalf of those who went forth in their stead, which, in its depth
and earnestness, and at last, as experience was gained, in its practical efficiency, was wholly without parallel. There were many
reasons, aside from zeal for the cause in which they were engaged,
both in the character of the volunteers raised immediately after
the fall of Sumter, and the circumstances by which they had been
suddenly transformed into soldiers, which made them from the
beginning peculiarly the objects of tender popular care and solicitude. The nuclei of all the first regiments raised were the militia
or volunteer companies existing in the various towns and cities.
For the most part the men were without any experience whatever
in campaigning, and their knowledge of a soldier's duties was confined to the requirements of a holiday parade. They were, moreover,
on many accounts those likely to suffer most seriously from the
fatigues and privations of a soldier's life.  But at this time the
Government had failed entirely to organize effective measures for
promoting the health and comfort of the troops; and the moment that the volunteers began to gather into camps or barracks,
the result was seen in the prevalence of diseases that might easily
have been prevented, and in the absence of any provisions whatever for the relief of the sick or ailing. It was just here that the
popular sympathy found a reason, aside from any considerations of
interest in the cause, for exertion and contributions in aid of those
in the service. The people must supply what the Government had
omitted to provide; must organize, as best they could, systems of
relief; must pour in, by whatever channels might offer, their offerings of sympathy and affection for those who had abandoned the
comforts of home to stand on the outposts of danger.




784            NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
The earliest organized movement in New Jersey for army relief
was made by the women of Newark, who on the 24th of April,
1861, formed an association (of which the wife of ex-Governor
Pennington was chosen President) for the purpose of preparing
necessary comforts for the volunteers from that city. Four days
before this, a number of ladies of Jersey City had tendered their
services as nurses, but, so far as can be ascertained, no organized
effort was made in that city until a later date. During the following fortnight, similar aid societies were formed in all the larger
cities and town, and before the close of the year nearly every town
in the State had its relief association.  In many places, these
organizations originated in the churches; in others, they were the
result of a spontaneous popular sympathy in which religious sentiment was in no sense the controlling impulse.  In every instance,
women of all classes of society were alike interested in, and contributors to, these organizations. The American, the German, the
Irish, all brought their gifts and laid them  upon the altar.  Some
women, more conspicuous than others for energy and executive
capacities, naturally achieved prominence in the eyes of the community; but often the gifts of the humbler had in them  more of
the spirit of lofty self-sacrifice than the offerings and deeds of more
favored sisters.' During the war, a number of Jerseywomen served
faithfully in the hospitals in and about Washington, and one, as
an accredited agent of the Sanitary Commission, accompanied the
Army of the Potomac iii all its campaigns, ministering with unremitting care to the wants of the sick and wounded.  Another,
Miss Cornelia Hancock, of Salem  County, was even more distinguished for her labors in this direction.  Miss Hancock first visited
the field as a nurse in July, 1863, when she was the first woman
who reached, and ministered to, the wounded of the Second Army
Corps on the bloody field of Gettysburg. Her labors here were of
the most exhausting and valuable character, and were highly
appreciated by the men.  She remained in the field hospital until
1 Among the women of the State none exhibited a profounder interest in the welfare
of our soldiers than the wife of Governor Olden.




POPULAR SYMPATHY WITH THE CAUSE.                785
the establishment of the general hospital at Camp Letterman,
where she assisted in the care of the wounded for several weeks
longer-the soldiers of the Third Division voting her a silver medal
as an expression of their appreciation of her services. In October
following, proceeding to Washington, Miss Hancock offered her
services in the Contraband hospital, and was there employed until
February, 1864, when, in obedience to a summons from the Surgeon in charge at Brandy Station, she went to that place-the
medal given her at Gettysburg securing her a pass from the Secretary of War and proving everywhere a passport to the favor of
subordinate officials.  At Brandy Station the men built her a log
house, and she ministered in various ways to the comfort of the,
sick and wounded.  She remained here until April, when she
returned to Philadelphia.
In May commenced that series of terrible battles which terminated in the overthrow of the rebellion. As soon as the news
reached the North, Miss Hancock at once left for Washington.
Several applications were made by members of Congress, at the
War Department, for a permit for her to go to the front. Each
was refused, as being unsafe and improper. But with a woman's
tact she made application to go as assistant to one of the Surgeons,
and this plan succeeding, she proceeded to Belle Plain, where she
arrived on the 10th of May.  There were at this time several
thousand men, soldiers, prisoners of war and wounded, at and
around the Landing, lying for the most part on the open hillside,
or among the low timber filling the ravines.  Going promptly
ashore, she addressed herself vigorously to the work in hand,
making coffee and furnishing the sufferers as far as possible with
food.  With the earliest opportunity, she passed on in an ambulance, and was the first woman from the North to enter Fredericksburg, where some thousands of wounded were already congregated.  Here she remained for a fortnight, laboring night and
day in aid of the suffering.2 On the 28th of May, all our wounded
2 An army Surgeon, who was a witness of her labors, wrote as follows to the New
York Tribune:
"All day (the first of her arrival) she worked assiduously in her sphere. -When, the
99




786               NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
having  been sent to  Washington, Miss Hancock  (with another
female nurse) set out on a march with the army, ministering while
en route to the comfort of some Union prisoners who had been
nearly three weeks in  the Wilderness and  were almost starved.
On  the  2d  of June, having  reached  White  House, she again
became  actively  employed,  being  frequently,  while  engaged,
exposed to the shells of the enemy. In one instance, she writes,
" a rifled cannon ball passed between  Mrs. Husbands and myself,
and a shell, at another time, struck the rear of the carriage I was
in." On the 26th of June, proceeding to City Point, Miss Hancock, with  three men  detailed as assistants, took charge of the
wounded at that place-remaining thus employed until September,
when  she returned  home  on  a hospital transport.  In October,
however, she again went to City Point, where she remained during
the following winter, laboring in the well organized hospitals which
were established towards the close of the war. After the fall of
Richmond, she. visited that city, and active operations having
ceased, she proceeded to Alexandria, where a hospital was established for those soldiers who might be exhausted in the homeward
march.  Here she remained a fortnight, when, her services being
no longer needed, she finally quit the field, endeavoring to forget
the fearful scenes which it had been her lot to witness, and happy
in the reflection that she had done what she could to alleviate the
sufferings by which she had so long been surrounded.8
next day, I opened a new hospital at the Methodist Church, I invited her to accompany me. She did so, and if success attended the efforts to ameliorate the sufferings,
it was in no small degree owing to her indefatigable labors. Within an hour from the
time one hundred and twenty men had been placed in the building, she had seen that
good beef soup had been administered to each, and during the period I was there, no
delicacy or nutriment attainable was wanting to the men. Were any dying, she sat by
to soothe their last moments, to receive the dying messages to friends at home, and,
when it was over, to convey by letter the sad intelligence. Let me rise ever so early,
she had already preceded me at work, and during the many long hours of the day she
never seemed to weary or flag; in the evening when all in her own hospital had been
fully cared for, she would go about the town with delicacies to administer to those who
were so situated that they otherwise could not obtain them. At night, she sought a
garret (and it was literally one) for her rest. One can but feebly portray the ministrations of such a person. She belonged to no association, and had no compensation. She
commanded respect, for she was lady-like and well educated. So quiet and undemonstrative, that her presence was scarcely noticed, except by the smiling faces of the
wounded as she passed."
3 In this connection, we have the following in reference to the labors of a daughter




POPULAR SYMPATHY  WITH  THE CAUSE.                        787
What has so far been said relates purely to the methods of army
relief instituted and employed by the patriotic women of the State.
There were other expressions of sympathy with the soldier and
those dependent upon him, which were hardly less praiseworthy or
important.  Among these may be specified as particularly significant and valuable, the movements, early initiated in all parts of
the State, for the relief and support of the families of volunteers,
many  of whom, but for this provident help, must have suffered
from absolute want. The first movement of this character, so far
as the newspaper records show, was made in the town of Lambertville, where, as early as April 17, 1861, a considerable sum of
money for this purpose was raised. This was followed, within a
week, by similar movements in Trenton, Mount Holly, Jersey City,
Newark, Paterson and all the larger towns of the State-in many
of which, during the entire period of the war, soldiers' families
received material aid, the aggregate amounting to millions of
dollars. The effect of this popular sympathy with those who
marched afield at the country's call was, as may be conceived, most
salutary, not only as it affected those immediately benefited, but
also in its broader bearings and influence upon the cause itself.
While relieving the soldier of anxiety as to the fate of his family,
certainly a most important consideration, these movements had
of Massachusetts, who was greatly and gratefully identified with New Jersey troops
and especially the Second Brigade. The facts are supplied by a Surgeon of that brigade:
" There is one person who deserves special mention for her services. I refer to Miss
Helen S. Gilson, from Chelsea, Massachusetts, and the gentleman who accompanied
her, the Honorable Frank B. Fay, Mayor of Chelsea, and now State Senator of Massachusetts. Miss Gilson was truly a'Florence Nightingale' to the Second New Jersey
Brigade. At the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and in the
battles just prior to the surrender of Lee's Army at Appamattox Court House, she
was ever present, relieving the necessities of our wounded braves. She represented no
Society, or benevolent class of persons particularly, but came with a heart overflowing
with love for her country, and its noble defenders, aided by the generous hand and
purse of Mayor Fay, to do what she could to mitigate the sufferings entailed by war;
and nobly did she perform her mission. 1 do not speak of her as I would of a great
many women who came to the army to do good (and who doubtless did it). Her
sphere of life, her place in society, and the people in Boston whom she represented,
united with her high order of intellect, and her graces of manner and character, entitle her to a much higher place in the estimation of the historians of this war. She
combined, more than any person 1 ever knew, the useful woman with the thorough
lady."




788           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
even a higher value than this, which no student of the war can fail
to discern. They assured him of the lively sympathy of the people in the grand work to which he consecrated his life; discovered
to him inexhaustible depths of sympathetic feeling, of confident
resolve and of loyal conviction in the great heart of the nation;
and so nerved his arm, confirmed his faith and deepened his enthusiasm in every hour of doubt and perplexity-making him invincible to ordinary calamities, and girding him with more than regal
courage in every moment of thickening conflict. Men may fight
bravely, indeed, for glory and the pomp of fame; may die grandly
for one word of applause from some Napoleonic Captain; but they
only fight with sublimest courage, with a fortitude that rises superior to all accidents, when they feel the heart of the nation-of
which they are themselves a part-behind them, beating in fullest
sympathy with their own; when they have an enlightened, conscious, personal stake in the combat; when they know that the
blow which shivers the power of the foe brings safety to their own
kin, and will be saluted with glad acclaim, not merely because it
carries victory with it, but because that victory is achieved by
them. Thus it was that all through the terrible conflict, the soldiers of the Union, fighting as it were in the very presence of their
homes; fighting with memorials of home affection in their knapsacks, or worn as talismans upon their breasts; fighting in the consciousness that dear remembered faces would pale with shame if
they faltered in duty, and hands that had never ceased to minister
to their needs would grow listless if their own withdrew from any
work-performed prodigies of valor which challenge the homage
of the nations, and in the end achieved a triumph which saved the
world from the ghastliest spectacle of the age-the overthrow of
Christian civilization on the field towards which all the centuries
had marshalled the forces of good and evil.
As among the loyal women of the State some were more conspicuous than others in their labors of beneficence in this behalf,
so there were men who became eminent above all their fellows
for the extent and value of their efforts. None in the State, no
one, indeed, in the country, achieved greater eminence as a friend




POPULAR SYMPATHY WITH THE CAUSE.                      789
and benefactor of the soldier, from the very commencement to the
close of the war, than Mr. Marcus L. Ward, then a private citizen
of Newark, and afterwards Governor of the State.  Being chosen
Chairman of the Public Aid Committee of Newark,4 in April,
1861, Mr. Ward was among the first to discover the peculiar difficulties and necessities of the soldiers, and with rare consecration,
he at once resolved to devote himself to the work of promoting
and guarding the interests, not only of the volunteers, but of their
families as well.  To that end, abandoning his personal business,
he opened an office, and employing clerks, established a bureau of
correspondence and collection, which very soon had relations with
every regiment in the field. By means of a system at once simple
and perfect, he collected and distributed to the families of volunteers the pay of thousands who might otherwise have frittered it
away in self-indulgence-thus saving to those directly interested,
and bringing into the State, millions of dollars, without the loss of
a single dime, and without a farthing's expense to any man in the
service.5 These operations, extending over a period of four years,
and reaching to every part of the widely extended field, involved
necessarily the closest fidelity, as well as very considerable expenditures, on the part of Mr. Ward; but the service, voluntarily
undertaken, was faithfully performed to the end, and, indeed, for a
considerable period subsequent to the termination of the war.  It
was not alone in this direction, however, that Mr. Ward's patriotism  and energy found  expression.   Whatever concerned the
comfort and welfare of the soldier found in him a hearty sympathizer, and he was as ready to minister to the wants of the sick and
wounded in the hospital or field, or to intercede for a rectification
This committee was organized April 22, 1861, and up to the 28th of September following, expended the sum of thirty-seven thousand three hundred and fifty-eight dollars
in aiding soldiers' families, encouraging enlistments, &c. The committee consisted of
Marcus L. Ward, Joseph P. Bradley, George Peters, Ira M. Harrison, and Beach Vanderpool.
5 Mr. Jonathan Cook, of Trenton, also performed excellent and commendable service
in collecting, under the patronage of the State authorities, the pay of New Jersey
soldiers and conveying it to their families. Mr. John Hill, of Boonton, was also indefatigable in similar labors, and in the care of our sick and wounded in the field and
hospital.




790              NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
of abuses in regimental discipline, or to secure the reversal of
harsh judgments of court-martial in cases of trivial offence, as to
perform less arduous labor. In many instances, when regiments
had been without their pay for a considerable period, he succeeded,
by ceaseless importunity, in bringing the Government to act upon
the important matter; and in one case was instrumental in obtaining the passage of a special act by Congress, appropriating some
millions of dollars for the express purpose of paying the Army of
the Potomac the amount due it for months of difficult service. He
also secured the location and establishment of a Government Hospital in the city of Newark, in order that the wounded soldiers of
this State might be brought within reach of their friends, instead
of being detained at Washington or more remote points; and for
a time gave his personal attention to the supervision and direction
of the immense establishment-advancing, moreover, from his own
purse the money necessary to equip it for occupancy.6   Persons
6 Mr. Ward's report in reference to the institution of this hospital, says:
"Having been applied to, as Chairman of the Public Aid Committee, of this city,
on Sunday morning, May 11, 1862, to furnish accommodations for several New Jersey
soldiers who had been wounded at the battle of Williamsburg, and who had arrived by
the night train from the seat of war, and being thus brought to a realizing sense of
our utterly unprepared condition to receive and care for our brave and suffering soldiers, I immediately repaired to the residence of his Excellency Governor Olden, at
Princeton, to secure his authority for the establishment of a hospital in this city.
Governor Olden promptly and cordially authorized the undertaking, and empowered
me to procure necessary buildings, furniture, surgeons, nurses, assistants, stores, and
indeed all things needed to promote the comfort and well-being of the patients, appointing the undersigned superintendent of the hospital to be thus established.
"On the following day, May 12, I secured a large and commodious building-situate
at Centrestreet, between the Passaic River and the New Jersey Railroad-answering
the conditions of the Government, which requires that military hospitals shall, when
practicable, be easy of access by railroad and water communication. I proceeded at
once to have the building freed of its contents, cleansed, and otherwise prepared for
the reception of patients. On the same evening a dispatch was received from General
Dis, military commander of Baltimore, giving notice that forty-six wounded Jerseymen were en route for Newark, and requesting that accommodations should be provided for them. The following day, the 13th of May, the soldiers arrived, and constituted the first patients received at the hospital, demonstrating at the same time the
great necessity for its establishment. In the conduct of the institution it became evident that to secure order, proper subordination, and the greatest good to the patients,
the hospital should be under military and Governmental control. To accomplish these
important objects (and with the consent of Governor Olden) I visited Washington,
and secured from the Secretary of War, on the 11th day of June, the acceptance of the
institution as a United States military hospital, the Government agreeing to assume
the expenses from its organization.  On the 17th of June, Brigadier-General Ham



POPULAR SYMPATHY WITH THE CAUSE.                            791
who have given thought to an examination of the records of personal and individual service during the war, all concur that in
the extent and beneficence of his operations, the patriotic and
humane spirit by which all his acts were characterized, and the
splendor of the example which he presented to the country, Mr.
Ward was without a peer, and deserves to be gratefully  remembered as having illustrated in the highest form the intelligence,
patriotism  and humanity of his age.
In November, 1863, it being fett that the work of sanitary relief,
which with the increase of our armies had grown to unexpected
proportions, demanded a more thorough and general organization,
a  meeting  was  held, upon  the  call of Dr. George  Taylor and
Reverend G. O. Glavis, at the hospital in Newark, for the purpose
of listening to a statement from Reverend Doctor Bellows, President of the United States Sanitary Commission, in reference to the
mond, Surgeon General, commissioned Doctors J. B. Jackson and Isaac A. Nichols as
Acting Assistant-Surgeons in charge."
The whole medical faculty of the city, from the moment the hospital was opened,
exhibited a deep interest in its success, and for a long time gave daily and gratuitous
attention. The women of Newark also most generously co-operated in the good work,
supplying all sorts of delicacies for the sick, and in some cases acting ps nurses. On
several occasions, as on Thanksgiving and similar festival days, sumptuous dinners
were provided for the patients numbering several hundred, and at such times the enjoyment was universal. Those patients who died in the hospital, were'uried in
Fairmount Cemetery, where a large and eligible plot of ground was given for the purpose.
Some time before this, (April 9, 1862,) a hospital, by direction of Governor Olden,
had been opened at Jersey City, for the reception of the sick and wounded New Jersey
soldiers arriving in New York from North Carolina and Virginia-Mr. Cornelius Van
Vorst being made superintendant. This hospital, however, was closed on the 16th of
August, and the patients removed to that at Newark. The total number of patients
admitted was three hundred and eighty-three, all of whom received subsistence, such
clothing as was required, and medical treatment. The medical department of this
hospital was under the care of Doctors Lutkins, Olcott, and Olcott, jr., all of whom
rendered their services gratuitously. Mr. Van Vorst, in his report to the Quartermaster-General, says:
"Although the Government furnished the principal medical stores, clothing, subsistence and furniture for the use of the inmates of the hospital, still we were dependent
upon the beneficence of the citizens of the State for many articles indispensable for
the health and comfort of the sick. Plain dressing gowns, shirts, drawers, socks,
lint, bandages, and delicacies such as the sick and wounded men would relish, were
bountifully supplied by the several ladies' aid societies of the State. * * *  To the
ladies of Jersey City, who, by their bounty liberally bestowed, and their daily personal
attendance at the hospital, alleviated much suffering, is due the efficiency and success
of the enterprise."




792           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
plan of operations of that great charity. At this meeting arrangements were made for a public demonstration a few weeks later,
which resulted in the formation of the " United States Sanitary
Commission for New Jersey," Messrs. Cornelius Walsh, Stephen IT.
Condit, Stephen G. Gould, Samuel P. Smith, Thomas T. Kinney,
and Dr. George Taylor, being appointed a Committee with full
power to add to their number and take all necessary measures to
extend the organization throughout the County and State. Subsequently Mr. Walsh was chosen President, Marcus L. Ward Treasurer, and Dr. George Taylor Secretary of the association-Dr. Glavis
being appointed to visit the different townships and cities, and
enter into correspondence with the leading citizens, for the purpose
of securing united action in promoting the interests of the United
States Sanitary Commission throughout the State. Up to this time,
all the contributions of the State for purposes of relief had passed
through the hands of Mr. Ward, but from this date forward the
Commission assumed the responsibility of this labor, Mr. Walsh
contributing largely by his efforts to promote public interest in the
work.  During the first year of the operations of the Commission, the money and goods contributed  by the people of
the State in aid of the Commission amounted to $63,543.61 in
cash, and $65,263.24 in supplies, of which nine hundred and
thirty-one boxes were sent to the field, in addition to which
it was estimated that the State contributed in goods and money,
through the Central Fair of Philadelphia, some $40,000, while
the contributions of many societies, organized through the instrumentality of the Commission, were sent direct to New  York,
Washington, and the army, amounting in value to some $20,000.
The largest contributions in supplies were made by Elizabeth
($7,755), Boonton ($4,140), Salem  ($4,136), Millville ($2,062),
Plainfield ($3,322), Paterson ($3,122), Rahway ($2,348), Somerville ($2,216), Woodstown  ($1,598), Lodi ($1,616), Montclair
($1,793,) and Schralenburg ($1,838).  The largest contributions
in money were made by Newark ($7,052), Jersey City ($5,566),
Hoboken ($1,050), and Pequannock Township (1,015).7
7 During the remaining period of the war, contributions were liberally continued,
but no data are at hand as to the amount either of cash or supplies.




POPULAR SYMPATHY WITH  THE CAUSE.                       793
The receipts from  the New Jersey department of the Metropolitan
Fair amounted to $48,960.58."
It was not alone, however, through  the Sanitary  Commission
that the offerings of our people reached the field.   Many religious
bodies, as well as private citizens, preferring the plan of operations
pursued by the Christian Commission, directed their contributions
in that channel, and tens of thousands of dollars, in money and
supplies, were thus added to the volume of relief furnished by our
people.   In  connection  with  this latter Commission, moreover,
hundreds of our citizens, clergymen and others, labored at various
times in the field, caring for the sick and disabled.  It may be said,
comprehensively, on this whole subject, that no State in the Union,
in proportion to its population, did more liberal things for the
soldiers of the Republic, and their families at home, than New
Jersey.
The following is supplied by Mr. Walter Rutherfurd, chairman of the New Jersey
department in this fair:
" The result of the contributions from New Jersey was as follows:
"Gross amount of sales, $16,214.11; cash contributions, $18,849.47; sale of tickets,
$5.400-total, $40,463.58.  Counterfeit bill, $5; expenses, $15.  Contributed to
mechanical department, $1,287.40; arms and trophies, $2,000; floral department,
$2,000; India rubber, $517; cottage, $600; sent to Philadelphia, $1,600-total,
$48,960.58."
100




CHAPTER XLIV.
ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH.
IT will not be denied that up to the assault upon Fort Surnter,
the American Church in many respects occupied an equivocal position touching questions of high national significance. In some
denominations there had been a sensible decline of the righteous
sentiment of abhorrence of slaveholding and the practices and doctrines which it nourished, which once almost universally prevailed;
in some States, indeed, the Church had actually arrayed herself on
the side of barbarism and oppression, ignoring the dictates of justice and suppressing the instincts of true piety. In many Northern
pulpits a shameless timidity held up holy hands in protest against
even the discussion of questions involving the very life of the
nation, while in others gowned arms were stretched out with benedictions upon the vilest abominations that ever debauched, a peopie. There were, it is true, some faithful witnesses in all the
churches, during the sad days of ecclesiastical infidelity; the pious
abhorrence of slavery which had characterized the fathers of the
Church, was never entirely suppressed; but the general influence
and tendency, as evinced in ecclesiastical decisions, in the failure
of her discipline to take cognizance of glaring iniquities, and in
other ways, were wholly pernicious and impossible of defence.
And, perhaps, there are few who, looking back over these five
bloody years, would care to attempt a justification of this recreancy
among religious bodies; few who are not prepared to admit all that
may be written in condemnation on this point. For, certainly, a
wonderful change has come over the pulpit of the country as to all
these matters. Discussion is no longer stifled. There is no longer
a disposition to apologize for flagrant political evils, or shut the
eyes to crying abominations in our life as a people. The Bible is




ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH.                 795
no longer twisted and distorted to accommodate its monitions or
adapt its instructions to peculiar phases of sentiment in the pews.
The clergy no longer fear, as they once did, to shock the prejudices
of politicians or offend the schemes of parties. It is true, indeed,
that the black image once so widely worshipped is broken and
there is no longer need of silence as to this species of idolatry; but
even before it was shivered, while yet millions at the South and
thousands at the North were striving to save it and perpetuate its
worship, the Northern pulpit began to speak out with pronounced
and emphatic utterance. With the first flash of the guns about
beleaguered Sumter, a new flame began to burn and glow in all the
churches of the North.  The fire that burned and scorched the
walls of that bravely defended fort, consumed ill thousands of pulpits the last vestige of sympathy with slavery and the lords of misrule. Human governments are ordained of God; and the ministry
which for fifty years had reprobated as sinful, all agitation and discussion which tended, in their opinion, to unsettle the foundations
and enfeeble the popular confidence in this Government of ours,
now condemned with equal vehemence the unjustifiable and wicked
attempts of Southern insurgents to tear it in pieces and establish
upon its ruins a gigantic crime in the outraged name of law and
order. Here and there, it is true, there were those who came up
slowly to the work of proclaiming loyalty as a religious duty; but
as a body, the Church spoke with grand and majestic voice; her
alarms and appeals sounding out like a trumpet-call over the
awakening land. Men who had defended slavery in all its aggressions; who in all their sympathies and avowals were identified
with the retrograde opinions of their day, suddenly became oracles
of freedom, teaching men to break the enervating enchantments of
the past, and purifying and exalting all within their reach by the
power of their quickened and almost singular enthusiasm. Before
the apparition of a great catastrophe, they ceased to be triflers and
hold-backs; some becoming courageous and intrepid to a fault in
rebuking the false; many marching afield with their lives in their
hands; few, indeed, hesitating to speak, strongly or weakly, for
liberty and law.




796           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
If it shall be inquired how a pulpit, which for so many years
had been faithless, could thus suddenly rise to the height of its
great duty, the answer is obvious. The good and evil qualities of
men inevitably declare themselves in a vital social crisis. In the
face of tremendous peril, the moral nature comes necessarily uppermost.  A torpid age develops only the sensuous life of a people;
but when God compels them to stand in some central current of
His providence and grapple with problems of life and death,
conscience, though slumbering through drowsy years, becomes a
spur, a burning fire, consuming all the dross of life, preserving
only the fine gold-kindling with a ruddy blaze forgotten truths,
quickening the soul to new discoveries of duty, and rousing the
whole moral nature into keener scrutiny and more vigorous action.
The Northern pulpit, with all its failings and omissions; its misconceptions of its true relations to political and social questionswas not in the main without a latent conscience; did not lack
genuine religious life. The one had been, indeed, perverted; the
other had not borne the fruits for which men looked; but both
existed. For some years, moreover, before the outbreak of hostilities, many in the pulpit had began to question among themselves whether, after all, slavery was a divinely instituted system,
and whether men, presuming to teach the truth of God, were
justified in keeping silence touching its growing evils.  Now and
then a voice was heard breaking the silence of years and calling
the people, in manly tones, to defend their heritage. At last that
monstrous crime lifted its hand in actual menace against the
Nation's life. Its triumph, beyond all peradventure, would involve
not merely the downfall of liberty but the desolation of Zion; the
corruption of the morals, the defilement of the whole life of the
people. The hideous spectre of a nation debauched and cast to
the tormentors, rose solemnly into view.  Then it was that the
better qualities of the pulpit declared themselves, and the moral
nature of clergy and laity alike became irresistably dominant.
Then it was that the Church, girding herloins and calling her sons
around the standard of the Cross, set beneath it the Nation's flag,
and bade them  go, with her blessing, to thQ battle whose lines
were already arrayed.




ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH.                       797
Thus the Church, in the blood of some of her best and bravest,
wiped out the guilt of years of infidelity. In conscience and
before God she could not have done less. To maintain the duty
of allegiance to the Government in time of civil war is the manifest, the imperative duty of all religious bodies.  "The same civil
obligations rest upon the Church, in her corporate or organic
capacity, as rest upon any other organizations of men, or upon
the individual citizen, so far as they may apply to each respectively.  These bodies, as such, are under civil protection, which
the Government is bound to render; they enjoy immunities which
the civil authorities grant and guard; they hold property under
the laws of the land; their charters and franchises are from the
State; they have the same rights and privileges at law and in
equity which other corporations enjoy. By virtue of these things,
they owe, in their organic character, full allegiance to the civil
authority.  Every principle of the Word of God, of human law,
of common sense, and every principle in any way entering into
the welfare of society, shows this beyond dispute.'" The Church,
then, in declaring for the Government and denouncing the rebellion, only did her duty-that and nothing more.
In New Jersey, the attitude of all religious bodies was from the
very first positive and unequivocal. There was no pelting the
monstrous wickedness of rebellion with dainty pellets of roseleaves; but sharp, courageous, telling blows were rained down upon
it from nearly every pulpit. On the Sunday following the assault
upon Sumter, voices which had long been hushed found strength
to speak for order, loyalty, and freedom.  In some cases, full conpanies of volunteers were at once raised in individual churches for
service in the field.' In whatever direction, and in whatever way,
sympathy could be shown with the Government, there and in that
1 Reverend R. L. Stanton in "The Church and the Rebellion."
2 The First Baptist Church of Newark sent one hundred and seventy-two of its
members into the military and naval service of the Union, of whom some thirty were
killed. Besides this number of volunteers, some thirty of the church and congregation were represented in the persons of substitutes. Other churches in the same city
sent an almost equally large number to the field, and in several other cities, almost
entire companies were recruited in individual churches.




798             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
manner it was manifested. All denominations, without exception,
at the earliest opportunity, gave formal expression to the prevalent sentiment of loyalty.   The first formal "deliverance" was
made by the Presbytery (New School) of Rockaway, on the 18th
of April, 1861, in the form of resolutions denouncing the rebellion
as designed to " perpetuate and extend a system of human oppression, abhorrent to reason, religion, and the best interests of the
country," and calling upon all patriots and Christians to stand by
the Constitution and laws, and to do all in their power to repel the
attack  of traitors upon the peace and welfare of the Nation."
About the same date, Bishop Odenheimer of the Protestant Episcopal Church, issued a Pastoral letter, specifying and authorizing
the use of a prayer for the country in the trials which had come
upon it; but that Church by no means confined its supplications in
behalf of the Nation's cause to that somewhat cold and rigid formula.  The prayer may have been the prayer of the Bishop; but
it was not that of the great body of his flock. These apparently
preferred to address the Throne of Grace in language of sincere,
heartfelt longing, rather than in the delicate phrases of polite indifference, not believing; perhaps, that God could be mocked.3  The
next authoritative "deliverance" was made, so far as evidence
exists, by the East New Jersey Baptist Association, composed of
representatives of some fifty churches, which, on the 5th of June,
adopted, unanimously, resolutions invoking  the favor of God
upon ouir arms, and declaring it to be "a Christian duty to sustain
the authorities in their eminently righteous endeavors to enforce
the laws, holding with Paul that' whoso resisteth the powers resisteth the ordinance of God.'" The Association also addressed a
circular letter to the churches urging the duty of showing respect
to those in authority, placing person and property at the service
3 The laity in the Episcopal Church and a greater part of the clergy, were in full
sympathy with the Government. All over the State, the National ensign floated from
their churches, and the willing hands of men and women identified with that communion labored for the Nation's defenders. But it is none the less to be regretted that a
too strict construction of the canons of the Church prevented any authoritative expression, in its annual conventions, of the real sentiment of its membership, and that every
prolposition to speak officially on the state of the country was met by the objection that
"the Church has nothing to do with affairs of State."




ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH.                        799
of the Government, and contributing, in a word, in every possible
way, to the public weal.  During the whole period of the war,
this Association was conspicuous for its outspoken loyalty, suffering
no occasion for manly utterance to pass unimproved. On the 13th
of September, the West New Jersey Baptist Association, in session
at Mount Holly, declared, in a formal deliverance, that "it is our
duty as citizens, as Baptists, and as Christians, to resist traitors,
North and South, by speech, with the pen and with the press, and
if need be with the implements of death on the field of battle."4
On the 18th of September, the Presbytery (New School) of Newark, convened at Caldwell, in a series of resolutions on the state of
the country, committed itself and its churches to a vigorous and
unfaltering support of the Government; and in later expressions,
cordially approved the policy of emancipation and all the ineasures which grew out of it-declaring it to be the duty of all loyal
men to labor for the purification of the Nation from all taint of
sympathy with the sin which had so long defiled it.  Early  in
October, the Synod of New Jersey (Old School) meeting at Pottsville, Pennsylvania, (two or three Presbyteries in that State being
attached to this Synod) adopted unanimously the following resolution: " That this Synod, in the spirit of that Christian patriotism
which the Scriptures enjoin, and which has always characterized
this church, do hereby acknowledge and declare an obligation to
promote and perpetuate, so far as in us lies, the integrity of these
United States, and to strengthen, uphold and encourage the Federal
Government in the exercise of all its functions under our noble
Constitution; and to this Constitution, in all its provisions, require4 This Association in 1862, declared that "as slavery is the sole and vital cause of
this wicked treason, which by its continuance has forced the issue upon us of deciding
between a continuance of slavery and the Union, we are convinced that a sure and
lasting peace cannot be secured short of its complete overthrow, and * * * we
earnestly urge the adoption of such a line of policy" (as emancipation), &c. These
resolutions were transmitted to the President, who replied in a strain of " sincere and
grateful emotion." In 1863, similar resolutions were adopted, and at each subsequent
session of the Association during the war, deliverances were made exhibiting with
equal emphasis the loyalty of the Church it represented. Partial reports show that
two hundred and thirty-two members of the churches connected with this Association were engaged in the country's service during the period of the war.




800               NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
ments and principles, we profess our unabated loyalty."5   On the
17th of October, the Synod of New  York  and New  Jersey  (New
School), the largest ecclesiastical body in the United States, in ses5 This Synod held advanced ground during the whole period of the war, and at the
meeting in 1865, held at Princeton, unanimously adopted the following, as attested by
Reverend Doctor R. R. Rodgers, Clerk of the Synod:
"WHEREAS, Since the Synod last met our beloved country, then afflicted and desolated by one of the most fearful wars which have ever scourged our race, has been, in
God's good providence, restored to peace and measurable harmony;
"WHEREAS, This happy result has been connected with the destruction, almost
total, of the system of human bondage, which had so long divided, agitated and cursed
the nation, and for the extinguishment of which the General Assembly of 1864
exhorted all to strive and pray; and WHEREAS, This Synod, during the progress of
the war, again and again, by both example and precept, urged united and earnest
prayer for the restoration of the Union, the overthrow of its enemies in arms, the
removal of the causes which had been so prolific of discord and conflict, with the
pardon of our National and individual sins, and the return of God's favor to our
afflicted land-therefore
" Resolved, That we would humbly recognize, as a Synod, and would press upon our
churches the duty of thanksgiving to the Great Head of the Church and Ruler among
the nations, for the merciful answer which he has vouchsafed to our prayers, for the
triumph of our National cause, for the re-establishment of our Government over the
whole Union, for the almost universal emancipation of the slaves, and for the brightening prospect of a happy restoration of fraternal and Christian feeling throughout
our pacificated country."
The Presbytery of New Brunswick, at a meeting held in Princeton, April 20, 1865,
adopted the following minute in reference to the death of President Lincoln:
" The Presbytery of New Brunswick r.egard the assassination of President Lincoln
as one of the most atrocious crimes which stain the annals of our guilty race. We
have no words in which adequately to express either our sorrow for his loss, or our
indignation at the authors and abettors of his assassination. That a Chief Magistrate
so great, so good, so beloved, and who had rendered such inestimable services to his
country and to humanity, should be suddenly cut down by the hand of violence, has
plunged the whole Nation into the profoundest grief.
"In view of this great affliction, this Presbytery acknowledges the Sovereignty of
God. God reigns, and the Judge of all the earth must do right. We therefore bow in
submission to His will. The Presbytery also feels called upon to record its reprobation of Treason, and of the spirit of pride, insubordination and malice from which
this fearful crime has sprung."
In reference to the attitude of the Presbytery of West Jersey, consisting of twentyone clergymen and twenty-two churches, we have the following statement:
"While the Presbytery of West Jersey has but seldom taken action directly upon
the questions of loyalty and slavery, it has never held a doubtful position. When
voting in the Synod, sometimes in the minority, it has been almost if not quite a unit
for the country and the Assembly.
"It appeals for its record to the minutes of the General Assembly from 1861 to 1866
inclusive; and can proudly say that through its Commissioners it has never failed to
record its vote on the side of the country and the Assembly: while the reports of our Commissioners have been approved without a dissenting voice.
"No church within our bounds failed to send her sons to the rescue; and every pulpit (save one for a part of the time) was vocal with the fervent prayers of a loyal peopie.




ATTITUDE  OF THE  CHURCH.                          801
sion in the city of Newark, adopted unanimously a minute on the
aspect of national affairs breathing the purest spirit of loyaltypledging to the Government the undivided support and confidence
of the churches within its bounds, and counseling the use of all
lawful means and efforts to aid in maintaining constituted authority
and putting down the rebellidn.  Moreover, believing that slavery
" lies at the foundation" of the existing troubles, the Synod declared
it to be the duty of all Christian men to pray more earnestly than
ever for its removal.  Some days later, the Evangelical Lutheran
Synod of New Jersey gave expression to similarly emphatic sentiments of loyalty, and on October 30th the New  Jersey  Baptist
Convention, speaking for all the churches of that denomination in
the State, in a solemn  " deliverance," reaffirmed the  resolutions
adopted a few weeks previously by the West Jersey Association.6
Meanwhile, the Methodist' and other denominations in all parts of
" There are unmarked graves where our truest and bravest fell; and there are bleeding hearts that still thank God for the sacrifices that have helped to redeem the Nation.
" J. W. HUBBARD, Stated Clerk of Presbytery."
The following resolutions were adopted by this Presbytery, with only two dissenting
votes, on the 5th of October, 1864:
" Resolved, that this Presbytery greatly rejoices in the action of the General Assembly, on the subject of slavery-action which, as we believe, brings the church into
more entire harmony with the manifest purposes of God, as made known in His providence-into more perfect harmony also, with the spirit of her own past deliverances,
and with the spirit of her Master-(both her's and ours) whose great and blessed mission it was to open the prison doors to them that are bound, and to break every yoke
-and that we hereby pledge ourselves to do with our might whatsoever in our judgment God in His providence may make it our duty to do, to the end that the stupendous evil referred to, the manifest occasion of all our woes as a Nation, may be hastened to a speedy and everlasting extinction."
6 In 1862, this convention formally approved of the emancipation proclamation, and
appealed for increased vigor in the prosecution of the war. In 1863, it expressed the
hope that the conflict would terminate "in the utter extinction of the system of
slavery throughout all the National territory," and in 1865, after the cessation of hostilities, declared: "That as nothing is settled until it be settled rightly, we recommend
that prayer, vigilance and effort do not cease until treason and traitors be rendered so
odious and so impotent as to sink into everlasting obscurity and ignominy, and until
equality before the law be secured to all, both white and black, who may claim to be
American citizens."  In 1866, going still further, the convention asked "in the name
of God, and justice and National tranquillity, the right of franchise for all men, white
or black."
7 The annual conferences of the Methodist Church had been held (in 1861,) before
hostilities commenced, but the position of the denomination was never for a moment
doubtful. Its pulpits rang with appeals for Liberty and the Union of the fathers from
the very outset of the conflict. Upon the meeting of the New Jersey Conference, in
101




802             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
the State had spoken in no less positive and unqualified terms as to
the duty of loyalty and the necessity of purging the land of every
abomination invoking the divine displeasure; and the Church as a
whole, within six months after the opening of the bloody tragedy,
stood firmly, inflexibly and grandly on the side of liberty and the
Union.
There can be no question as to the great influence of these declarations of our religious bodies upon the minds of the people. All
experience shows that the more intelligent classes in societystatesmen and others of the highest abilities, who are connected
formally with the Church, as well as the mass of her membershave their opinions formed or modified, in a good degree, as to the
moral and religious aspects of public questions, by the views and
teachings which the Church proclaims; by the formal action of her
ecclesiastical assemblies; by the writings of her distinguished ministers and by the discussions of the pulpit. In a land like ours,
the press is, indeed, a great and marvellous power, but the Church
exerts a yet greater influence; appealing to the habitual reverence
which men have for sacred things, to the emotional as well as the
intellectual nature, and sometimes to superstitious fear and prejudice, it sways to an extent which no line can measure the thoughts
and opinions of the masses.  When, therefore, the religious bodies
of New Jersey, reaching in their declarations, remotely or directly,
nearly  every  household in its  borders-proclaimed, promptly,
clearly and with fervid enthusiasm, the duty of standing by the
Government at whatever cost, and exacted of every man professing fellowship with them, prayer and effort for the Nation's cause,
they gave the most powerful aid to the Government-each fresh
exhibition of ecclesiastical confidence and loyalty being worth to
the cause infinitely more than millions of money. Thus stimulated
1862, resolutions of the most emphatic character were at once adopted, the rebellion
being characterized as " abhorrent in spirit, and proposing objects the accomplishment
of which would be one of the greatest calamities to the interests of civilization and
Christianity." The Newark Conference, meeting soon after, adopted similar resolutions, one declaring that "with our prayers, with every element of our influence, and
with all our strength, we will stand by the Government in its patriotic efforts to suppress rebellion."




ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH.                  803
and encouraged, men went confidently and eagerly to the field;
and to-day in all our churches there are scores of vacant seats, the
manly forms that once filled them lying under the turf of trampled
fields where, with the battle flame upon their faces, they fell with
all their armor on.
Nor has the Church of New Jersey, since the termination of the
war, shrunk from the great responsibilities which the changed
condition of Southern society has imposed.  She has taken up
bravely and carried forward faithfully the work to which Providence summoned her, in the education of the fieedmen, the
enlargement of missionary efforts among the degraded whites, and
the occupation of the whole Southern field with every possible
agency of moral and intellectual cultivation. In this work, the
Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists have been especially active,
contributing liberally in support of all movements looking to the
elevation of the suddenly emancipated population of the revolted
States, and sending scores of laborers and teachers to assist in the
sublime work of laying the new foundations in justice, purity,
intelligence, and an enlarged recognition of religious truth.  The
results of these efforts, time alone can disclose; but it is something to know that the Church, here and elsewhere, thus promptly
accepts the logic of events and faithfully performs the work which,
evolved from the ruins of war, has in it blessing and honor for
the Nation.




CHAPTER XLV.
DISTINGUISHED  GENERAL  OFFICERS-KEARNEY,
IN the list of distinguished General officers who entered the
field from New Jersey, General Kearney was confessedly first and
foremost. In the highest sense, Philip Kearney was the type
Volunteer General of the war.  More nearly than any other, he
represented in his views and theory the popular conception as
to the methods upon which the war should be fought.  He
reflected, moreover, more truly than any other high commander
the exalted, unselfish, uncalculating patriotism which glowed in
the hearts of the people. His fiery nature took affront at every
attempt to dwarf the grand contest into anything else than a
struggle for the sublime principle of Nationality.  He had no
confidence in politicians, but little respect for dignitaries, no love
for anything but the Cause. Intriguers, cowards, martinets, small
men essaying to crowd down great ones, he detested with implaca.
ble detestation. But to Courage and upright Manliness, he lifted
his hat with instinctive reverence.  For the soldier, whether
officer or private, who cherished a genuine pride in his profession,
and labored, only for duty's sake, to excel in every requirement of
the service, he had esteem  unbounded-not always exhibited,
indeed, by outward act, but none the less genuine or profound.
In battle, fierce as a lion, on parade sometimes stern and impetuous, almost to injustice —in the hospital, by the bed-side of the
wounded and dying, his heart grew tender, his voice as soft as a
woman's; even his touch had healing in it. Men who only saw
him with the hood of pride upon his face, judged him incapable
of emotion. They did not know how, under all the hard crust,
there lurked the tenderest thoughtfulness for the health, comfort,
and lives of his command; how, out of his own purse, he minis



DISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERS-KEARNEY.    805
tered to their wants; how, even in the heat of battle, thoughts of
home and kindred, like flashes of sunshine, illumined the seemingly
stony, stoical nature; how, in the battle-pauses, he was wont to pen
messages of remembrance from the ghastliest fields to those who
afar off watched his plume with solicitude and affection. It is no
wonder, indeed, that men misjudged him; he had no mirror set in
his breast, that all the world might see and know his thoughts;
rather, he was reticent, reserved, surrounded by a hauteur which few
men cared to penetrate; and so, in the estimation of all but a few
intimates, he suffered a sort of martyrdom when he should have been
crowned a king of men.
Philip Kearney was born June 2, 1815. On his father's side his
lineage was Irish.  His mother was descended in part from
Huguenot ancestry. From his boyhood, Philip inclined to military
pursuits, and having passed through Columbia College, and then
studied law, he sought and obtained, upon reaching his majority,
a commission as Lieutenant in a regiment of dragoons, in which
Jefferson Davis was a Captain, with which he proceeded to the
West. Here he spent something over a year, applying himself to
the details of the military profession, acquiring skill in horsemanship, and perfecting himself in all branches of his duty. In 1839.
the French Government having accorded to the United States permission to send three officers to pursue the course of instruction in
their military school at Saumur, Lieutenant Kearney was selected
as one of them, and, going out in 1840, he at once addressed himself to the work of mastering the profession. After a time, quitting
the school to go with the French forces to Africa, he was attached
to the First Chasseurs d'Afrique, and was present at two engagements, being distinguished for his skill and fearlessness, and winning the warmest encomiums from his superiors. Returning from
France in 1841, he was attached to the staff of General Scott, in
whose military family he remained until the outbreak of the war
with Mexico. Having at that time risen to be Captain of dragoons,
he recruited a company in the West, offering from his private purse
a premium additional to Government bounty, in order to secure
both men and horses of the very best character. As a result, his




806           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
troop was superior to any other in the army; but being taken by
General Scott as his body-guard, no opportunity for personal distinction was offered until the battle of Cherubusco, fought at the
very gates of Mexico.  At this battle, in order to avoid being
flanked, General Scott had given up his escort and retired upon his
center, having first detached Captain Kearney for " general service."
That officer was not slow in seizing the first opportunity which
offered to strike a telling blow. The enemy being discovered in
retreat, the cavalry were ordered to pursue. At the point in question, Mexico is approached by a narrow causeway, crossing a deep
marsh, which flanks it on either side. Along this causeway the
Mexicans fled in great disorder, seeking the protection of the gates
and of a battery which guarded them. Kearney, getting upon this
causeway, and discovering the battery, saw at once that his safety
lay in pushing desperately forward, giving the enemy no opportunity to rally.  Upon that conviction he acted. An officer was
sent to command his return, but hurriedly indicating his situation,
Captain Kearney was permitted to continue the charge, rushing up
to the gate itself, sabering all who resisted. Upon retiring, he was
fired upon by the enemy, who had now somewhat recovered, and
here had his left arm shot away by a shower of grape.
For his gallantry in this action Captain Kearney was promoted
to be Major. In 1850-52, he was employed in California and
Oregon against the Indian tribes. Then, resigning his commission,
he traveled extensively throughout Europe and the East, making
his residence in Paris-only returning to this country for a short
time at various periods.  In 1859, during the Italian war, he was
attached as Aid-de-camp to the staff of General Morris, commanding the cavalry of the Guard, and was present, under fire, at the
battle of Solferino. In consideration of his services in this campaign, the Emperor Napoleon III conferred on him the Cross of
the Legion of Honor.
At length the slaveholders' rebellion, so long plotted, flowered
into open, actual hostilities.  Instantly Major Kearney, abandoning the luxury and congenial ease of his continental life, hastened
to tender his sword to his Government. Arriving in this country




DISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERS-KEARNEY.                 807
early in the spring of 1861, he applied to General Scott for employment, and at his instance sought a commission first from the Governor of New  York.  Failing there, jostled aside by political
intriguers who no more comprehended the magnitude of the struggle than they cared for the principles at stake, he turned away in disgust-burning to serve the country but absolutely denied the privilege. Fortunately, a prominent Jerseyman hearing of his arrival in
America, interceded in his behalf with the authorities of the State,
urging his appointment to the command of the First Brigade, then
forming for the field. But weeks passed, and the appointment was
not made.  At length the disaster of the first Bull Run startled
the people and their rulers into a truer conception of the work
before them, and then, when the need of officers of the highest
attainments became so obvious as no longer to admit of doubt,
Major Kearney, still panting for the fray, willing to lead a regiment
or take even a subordinate command, was made Brigadier-General
of Volunteers.'
The story of his connection with the First Jersey Brigade has
more than once been rehearsed.  His talents as an organizer, his
fervid enthusiasm for his profession, his close study of the art of
war, his intuitive perception of character, his strategic genius, his
generosity and lavish expenditure of his large wealth in order to
promote the efficiency of his command-all these qualities from
the outset distinguished his career.  In a little time, his brigade
was confessedly the best disciplined in the army.  Keeping ever
before his command the fact that the duty of the soldier was to
fight, pushing them forward into the van of the army, he made
them active and vigilant, and when at last opportunity came, they,
of all the army, were fully prepared to meet it.
The autumn passed; the army grew daily stronger; but nothing
1 The spirit with which General Kearney entered the army, may be inferred from
the following extract from a letter written by him shortly after taking command of
the First Brigade. After speaking of the difficulties experienced in organizing and
disciplining the troops, he continued: " But I ought not to complain of this. My
position here was not an ambition, but I felt that I was paying an early debt I owed
to the country. My only hope is, not to live, but that I may not be killed early in an
engagement. If I am not, New Jersey shall have no cause to be ashamed of me."




808            NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
was done.   McClellan was planning, halting, doubting.   The
Nation cried for action, still trusting to the god it had set up.
But Kearney was not long in seeing the truth as to the Commanding General,' and he expressed it, not insubordinately but confidentially, and with many cautious and  generous hopes that he
might be mistaken.  In October, 1861, he writes: "I see a vacillation in his great objects-allowing small objects to intrude." In
February, 1862, he writes that early in the previous September
the enemy might have been easily manceuvered out of Manassas,
but for inefficiency at headquarters.   In March, he speaks yet
more decidedly: "Although there is no one exactly to replace
McClellan, I now proclaim distinctly that unless a Chief, a live
officer, not an engineer, of military prestige (success under fire
with troops), is put in command of the Army of the Potomac
(leaving McClellan the bureau duties of General-in-Chief), we will
come in for some terrible disaster." Later, when, as is detailed in
the narrative of the First Brigade, he had advanced upon and
occupied Manassas,' McClellan's neglect to take advantage of the
success and follow up the retreating enemy, completely satisfied
General Kearney of his incompetency.  From  that time nothing
could change his opinion.  "The stupid fact is," he writes March
17, 1862, " that not content with letting me or others push after
the panic-stricken enemy, fighting him a big battle and ending the
war-for his panic promised us sure success-McClellan, so powerful with figures but weak with men, has brought us all back. It
is so like our good old nursery story,' The King of France, with
twice ten thousand men, marched up the hill and then marched
down again.' The result will be that in Southern character they
will more than recuperate, more than think us afraid of a real
2 Address of Mr. Cortlandt Parker before the New Jersey Historical Society. We
are indebted to this admirable address for many of the facts furnished in this sketch
as to General Kearney's opinion of men and measures.
3 General Kearney announced this event to the Adjutant-General of the army as
follows:
" The Third New Jersey Volunteers, under Colonel Taylor, occupied Manassas and
planted the United States flag at the main fort, at the Junction, at half-past nine
o'clock, a. m., March 11th, arriving by Union Mills and the line of the railroad. They
understood from the occupants and citizens that they were the first troops to enter."




DISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERS-KEARNEY.                809
stand-up fight, meet us at the preferred points, possibly play ugly
tricks at the Capital, and non-plus or force us to fight with the
worst of chances against us; and all this because McClellan, out
of confidence since his failure at Ball's Bluff, despairing of a direct
attack on Manassas, having invented with the aid of engineers the
plan of turning the enemy by a sea route, instead of availing himself of the good luck of the enemy's retreat-thinks that he must
still adhere to his sea plan.  Like the over-stuffed glutton who
thinks he must cram  because he has on hand an'embarras de
richesess.'"  At a later date, writing upon the same subject, General
Kearney says: " It would have been so beautiful to have pushed
after the enemy, and in doing so, isolate Fredericksburg, carry it
easily, occupy that road, and thus turn those river batteries, all the
while near enough to Washington in case of any attempt upon it."
The meaning of these criticisms is plain.  Some two hundred
thousand men lay at that time around Washington.  The rebel
force was barely forty thousand. What hindered our advancewhy was it not made?  Kearney could not comprehend this delay
and inactivity; he believed in action;  he knew  that a direct
advance would have been overwhelming.  No measures, indeed,
could have resisted it. Success, complete and overwhelming, must
have crowned such a movement.
During the month of March, General Kearney was tendered command of a division vacated by the promotion of General Sumner
to a corps.  General Kearney was only too glad to accept, but
desiring to carry his brigade with him, and being refused, he
promptly declined the proposed command, and, while ranking
many Division Generals, generously remained with his brigade.
The act was characteristic, but it deepened his hold upon the men,
and the scene of enthusiasm upon his return to camp, after having
declined to leave his command, was one never to be forgotten.
~ In a letter dated March 19, 1862, addressed to General Seth Williams, General
Kearney said: " A few days since, the General-in-Chief honored me by appointing me
to command a division, transferring me without my brigade. My duties as a volunteer
General to those with whose welfare I had linked myself, appeared to me paramount,
and I declined the same. In all truthfulness I asserted utter abnegation of self in this
war."
102




810            NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
One who was with him, still tells how even his eyes filled with
tears as he rode down the welcoming lines, saluted with peal upon
peal of cheers.
The services of General Kearney in the Peninsula campaign
have passed into history. Just before reaching Yorktown, a vacancy occurred in a division of Heintzleman's Corps. The division
being actually under fire, he felt bound to assume at once the position to which he was ordered, and with a grief which he could not
conceal, he laid down his command of the Jersey troops (April
30th), and thenceforward ceased to be known as their General.
But his thought, down to the hour of his death, was ever with
them, and in every engagement his concern for their welfare, and
his solicitude for their success, was no less earnest and profound
than for the reputation of his own immediate command.5  The
losses of the brigade at Gaines' Mills, where the Division General
failed to appear on the field, he never ceased to deplore, nor did he
hesitate to denounce in vehement terms the unaccountable dereliction of the offending commander.
In all the battles of the Peninsula campaign, General Kearney
displayed conspicuous bravery and skill. Three days after he
assumed command, he participated in the battle of Williamsburg,
coming to the support of Hooker and his New  Jersey troops at a
most critical moment, and handsomely saving the army from disaster.  He entered this battle with five reginents, going in at
double quick, the band playing and Kearney moving impetuously
far in advance of the little column.  At another time, he led two
companies to the charge to drive back the sharpshooters of the
enemy, and during the whole engagement he displayed a coolness,
discrimination  and courage which elicited the admiration of all
5 Next to his sense of the disgrace inflicted upon the army at large, and the country, by the retreat which he so severely denounced, was his grief at the losses
and almost ruin of his pet Jersey Brigade, upon whose fate he ever looked with
parental anxiety. "I am sickened," he writes in a letter of July 24th, "by the falseness of the times, and the gratuitous sacrifice of the Jersey Brigade is enough to make
me so. Why did not their Division General go to command in person? It was his
own part of the division (Slocum's). It was half of his provisional corps, and surely
why not place it in the fight, even if he did no more?" —Jr. Parker's Address.




DISTINGUISHED  GENERAL OFFICERS-KEARNEY.                       811
beholders.' In the battle of Fair Oaks, his division again achieved
distinction, saving the army from  utter wreck after the headlong
stampede of Casey's Division. In the fight of the second day, his
troops, with those of Hooker, again beat back the exultant enemy,
driving him broken and crippled from the field, and had McClellan
vigorously pursued his advantage, he might without doubt have
marched, at the conclusion of this engagement, straight into Richmond, already smitten and trembling  with  fear.'  Both  Hooker
and Kearney were earnest, not only in conviction, but in requesting that they might pursue the enemy and capture his Capital; but
McClellan was still timid  and undecided, and not perhaps really
knowing his own mind or the actual facts of the situation, refused
permission, and once more the fruits of victory were lost. General
Kearney, his impatience deepened still more by this fresh exhibition of incompetency, did not hesitate to speak his mind in reference to the whole subject, characterizing, as it deserved, the weak
vacillation of the commanding General. In a letter written three
6 Chaplain Marks, in his account of this battle, in his interesting work, " The Peninsula Campaign," says:
"And now Kearney performed one of those brilliant feats which made him the
model soldier of his division. In order to disclose to his troops the concealed position
of the enemy, and to exhaust their fire, he announced his determination to ride in
front of the enemy's lines. Surrounded by his aids and officers he dashed out into the
open field, and as if on parade, leisurely galloped along the entire front. Five thousand
guns were pointed at him, the balls fell around him like hail, two of his aids dropped
dead at his side, and before he reached the end he was almost alone. He secured by
this hazardous exploit what he aimed to accomplish, the uncovering of the enemy's
position-then riding back amongst his men he shouted,' You see, my boys, where to
fire'"
7 Chaplain Marks, on page one hundred and ninety-eight, of his " Peninsula Campaign," says:
" There is no doubt of the truth of the statement often made, that the enemy on
this day was thoroughly defeated, and that it was possible for us to have taken Richmond. The rebel soldiers rushed into Richmond, heralding their defeat and spreading
alarm, thousands of them throwing away their guns in their flight; and if we had
pushed vigorously forward we could have been in Richmond before night. General
Johnston had been severely wounded the previous day, and the enemy acted without
concert or plan."
Of General Kearncy's conduct in this battle, Chaplain Marks says:
" General Kearney showed himself equal to every emergency, dared every danger,
and risked his life in the most hazardous positions. His men seemed to be capable of
performing anything under his eye, for their confidence in his courage and military
sagacity was unbounded. I have often heard the men speak at the camp-fires of his
unruffled coolness during both of those days."




812           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
weeks after the battle, he said: " Here we are again at a dead-lock;
Manassas over again; both parties intrenched up to their eyes;
both waiting for something; unluckily, our adversaries gaining
two to our one. Our last chance to conquer Richmond-for Dame
Fortune is resentful of slighted charms-was thrown away when
our great battle of Fair Oaks was thrown away. We had tempted
the enemy to attack us whilst divided by the Chickahominy.
Fortunately, he tailed. The prestige, nearly lost to us by our inaction since Williamsburg, was once more in the ascendency. It only
required McClellan to put forth moral force and his military might,
and Richmond would have been ours. But no; delay on delay;
fortifications, as if we were beaten, met by stronger counter-fortifications, on points previously neglected; undue concentration of our
troops on points already over-manned, met by a net-work enveloping us by them; supineness in our camps, met by daring forays
by them; the boasted influence of our reserve artillery, counterbalanced by their availing themselves of the respite to get up
artillery even of greater calibre; the reliance on further troops
from the North more than met by reinforcements of two to one by
their recalling troops from the South. Indeed, everything so betokens fear on the part of the General commanding, and the enemy
show themselves so emboldened, that, with the numbers crowding
up around us, I am puzzled to divine the next act of the drama.
It will be either another inexplicable evacuation, or the suffocation
of this army by the seizure of our communications when least
expected. The enemy wish us to attack.  McClellan has proved
by his fortifications that he is feeble. We are surrounded in front
by a cordon of troops and forts. It is true that they will fail if
they attack us; but, if they do not do that, they will leave enough
troops in our front, and, crossing the Chickahominy, cut us off
from our lines of communication and sustenance."
The wonderful foresight-amounting to actual prophecy-which
is developed in this extract, cannot but attract the attention of
every careful reader. Only a week later, the event here predicted
actually came to pass; our communications being cut, and the
army driven from the position where it was rotting behind intrench



DISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERS-KEARNEY.    813
ments to the banks of the James, with a loss of life, materiel and
prestige which, in the first hours of the disaster, seemed fatal to
all our hopes of success over the rebellion.
As to General Kearney's action in the battles of the seven days'
retreat, the accounts of the time give full and glowing particulars.
In every action in which he shared, he exhibited the same fearless
intrepidity and high resources of command which had given him
success on every other field. In the battle of White Oak Swamp,
he seemed ubiquitous, directing all movements, and imparting by
his presence and bearing the most determined courage to his men.
" Wherever the danger was greatest, there he pressed, carrying
with him a personal power which was equal to a reinforcement.
In a pre-eminent degree," adds Chaplain Marks, "he exhibited
that military prescience, or an anticipation of what was coming,
and the point of an enemy's attack, which has characterized every
great man who has risen to distinction in the art of war." In this
battle, as the troops passed General Kearney's position, marching
into the open field, he looked on each man, saying cheerily, " Go
in my boys! go in gayly, go in gayly!" and during all the subsequent conflict, they heard the voice of their General, "Gayly,
gayly, my boys!"  At Malvern Hill, " Fighting Phil. Kearney"
was again "the grandest Roman of them all," and his indignation
at McClellan's failure to improve his opportunity to advance upon
Richmond was violent in the last degree. When the order to
retreat to Harrison's Landing was received, he exclaimed in the
presence of many officers, "I, Philip Kearney, an old soldier,
enter my solemn protest against this order for retreat; we ought,
instead of retreating, to follow up the enemy and take Richmond.
And in full view of all the responsibility of such a declaration, I
say to you all, such an order can only be prompted by cowardice
or treason.""  In a letter to a friend in New  Jersey, he said:
" Very far from having a base to act on, General McClellan has
boxed us. You will soon hear of the James River being rendered
impassable for our supplies, and then, like drowned rats, we must
8 Chaplain Marks' " Peninsula Campaign."




814           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
soon come out of our holes. But it will be done with more awful
sacrifices of useless, because avoidable battles. We are fortifying
here again, unnecessarily so. It breaks the hearts of the soldiers;
gives them the idea that they cannot win fields, and yet in a few
days, sooner or later, we will have to burst through the net-work,
that the enemy are preparing around us, and, if we do not, look
out for Washington.  That city will go. They will crush Pope,
by leaving McClellan in ignorance of their departure, then for a
foreign alliance, and good night to the North.  Even now McClellan's defeat will be likely to produce this.  His'change of base 
may cheat the American newspapers and fool the American
people; but the ignominious retreat, the abandonment of the
sick and wounded, the abandonment of stores, and loss of strategical supremacy, cannot be concealed from  military eyes in
France, England, nor elsewhere."
Again, General Kearney's predictions were justified by the event.
The enemy did crush Pope, but not until Kearney had given his
life in a brave and desperate endeavor to rescue him and his army
from  the peril into which they had been brought by blunders
amounting to crimes.  In all the later fighting of the Pope campaign, he was everywhere the lion of the fray, fighting with tremenduous audacity, and striking the enemy with a power which
more than once sent him reeling to the dust. But in all that campaign the fates were against us. Fighting bravely and brilliantly,
the soldiers of that grand army could not overcome both treachery
and imbecility among its own commanders, and the swarming
legions of the foe, fighting as they had never fought before. On
the 30th of August, Pope, betrayed by some of his own lieutenants, was driven, or compelled to retire across Bull Run, with a
view of concentrating about Centerville. Lee, however, did not
mean that our disordered army should reach the Potomac if he
could help it, and accordingly, on the afternoon of the 1st of September, the enemy made a bold flank attack on General Reno with
the remains of two divisions, near Chantilly, endeavoring to gain
possession of the Fairfax road, with a view of interposing a barrier between us and Washington. This movement, so threatening




DISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERS-KEARNEY.            815
in its character, needed to be promptly met; the enemy must be
repulsed, in order to save the army, if not indeed the Capital itself.
In such a crisis, General Pope was naturally unwilling-we quote
the language of one who was on the bloody field-to trust any
untried commander, and looked for help to those who had never
failed in any duty. Kearney, Reno and Stevens were selected for the
task. Their divisions had been shattered and thinned by the preceding struggles, but with Kearney as their leader, there was no
thought of failure. Reno and Stevens attacked, but after desperate
fighting against overpowering numbers, were compelled gradually
to retire. Stevens fell, flag in hand, cheering and leading on his
old Highland regiment, in the very front of the battle.  At this
moment, as our forces were giving way, General Kearney appeared
upon the field. With all the impetuosity which ordinarily characterized his attacks, he hurled his columns against the exultant and
advancing lines of the enemy, unlimbered Randolph's guns, shotted with double canister, and then placing himself at the head of
Birney's charging column, ordering staff and orderlies to the rear,
broke through the enemy's center, dashed him back in disorder and
confusion, saved Pope's Army and the Capital, but paid for the victory with his own precious life. Riding forwtard, about sunset, to
reconnoiter the enemy's position, he unexpectedly came upon the
rebel lines, and was summoned to surrender, but refusing with
words of defiance, was shot dead as he turned to fly, his body falling into the hands of the enemy.
No more conclusive testimony of the popular appreciation of Kearney's character and talents could possibly have been furnished than
was given him in the universal outburst of lamentation over the news
of his death. Everywhere it occasioned the profoundest grief. In
Washington, the intelligence of his fall was especially depressing.
At eight o'clock on that dismal morning, the writer, walking the
streets of the Capital, met everywhere groups of men with saddened
faces and tearful eyes, talking together with subdued voice of the
nation's loss.  At Willard's, the lobbies and halls were thronged
with officers and civilians listening to the details of the sad event
as rehearsed by members of his staff and others fresh fiom the




816              NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
front.  At the telegraph office, as a dispatch was handed in to distant friends of the dead General, the operator, a grey-haired man,
with a sob in his voice, exclaimed, "This is the sorest loss of all."
At the White House, the rough, grand, heroic man into whose
face the last week's losses and reverses had brought a deeper sadness and  an  almost holy look  of patient weariness  and  grief,
mourned no less keenly the knightly soldier fallen, saying in his
heart also, "This is the sorest loss of all." In the hospitals,
crowded with mangled heroes; in the barracks and camps in and
about the Capital; among the cavalry filing over the Long Bridge
and moving towards the upper Potomac; everywhere, the words
" Kearney is dead," smote upon the listening ear like a knell.9 He
9 Captain Henry N. Blake, (Eleventh Massachusetts Regiment,) in his " Three years
in the Army of the Potomac," says, in closing his account of the battle of Chantilly:
"The army mourned the National loss of Major-General Kearney, who was killed at
Chantilly; and his memory will be cherished as long as exalted patriotism, inspiring
courage, and justice towards men, are revered by mankind. Qualified to be the head
of the army, he accepted the command of a brigade. Leaving the comforts which his
large wealth afforded, he welcomed the most trying hardships of the service. In
another zone, the enemies of his country had taken his arm; but his zeal triumphed
over the disability, and he fought until he had sacrificed his life. Placing the reins
between his teeth, and grasping in his single hand the two-edged sword, he led his
men in the charge that was never checked. Humane to those who were his inferiors,
the orderlies were directed to bring water in canteens to the soldiers when the exigencies of the hour required that all should remain in the ranks at the front. Impetuous
in thought and action as the flash of his fiery eye, he censured with the same vehemence the misconduct of a private, or the General of the highest rank in the Union
forces. Beloved by his division, the red badge which he instituted was always worn by
the officers and men with the same proud feeling with which the heroic commander
displayed the cross of the Legion of Honor, which never enrolled a nobler chevalier.
Bravely performing his public tasks, the death of this pure patriot and consummate
soldier was a fitting conclusion of his eventful life."
Chaplain Marks' thus details his last interview with General Kearney:
" From this time I had no personal intercourse with General Kearney, until the fatal
day of Chantilly. While the army was yet at Centerville, I entered his room to obtain
permission to visit the wounded at Fairfax Station. This, without a moment's hesitation, he granted, and urged me to remain with him for a few moments; during the
course of our conversation he spoke of the causes which led to the disastrous defeat
of the previous Saturday, and then of the spirit which animated the South. For the
first time in our intercourse he spoke on the subject of religion. He regretted that it
had been so little his study, but said his knowledge of the world and experience taught
him that the only hope of the future was in the gospel of our Lord, and that everything else would signally fail in producing peace on earth and good-will amongst men.
He said the scenes in which we were living more deeply impressed him with the value
of the teachings of the Bible.
" We parted, and in the sanguinary struggle of the evening General Kearney fell, and
with him a thousand hopes for the country and the army. He was a man of far more
talent than many have been willing to concede to him. While ardent and impulsive,




DISTINGUISHED  GENERAL OFFICERS-KEARNEY.                   817
had fought for the nation, for unity, liberty, law; and the nation,
with the last flash of his sword in its eyes, took him to its heart
and shrined him  there, with the chief and best of those who, from
Bunker Hill downward through the lapsing years, had received in
their breasts the fatal thrusts intended for its own.
Of the personal characteristics of General Kearney, something
still remains to be added. As a disciplinarian he was, as already
intimated, stern, exacting, pitiless. Possibly, he may have been sometimes unnecessarily severe, his impetuous temper hurrying him into
actions which sober reflection could not justify. But no man was
more ready than he to confess an error or correct a wrong.  His
nature was at bottom, frank, generous, just, and as, upon occasion,
he was swift to censure with unsparing epithets, so when the blood
cooled, he was no less quick to compensate for any injustice of
which he may have been guilty.  Even in  the enforcement of
necessary discipline, he often showed his tender side. Frequently,
after having reprimanded an officer in presence of his command,
for some slovenliness of dress or carelessness of drill, he was known
to say privately to the object of his rebuke: " This reprimand
was necessary, sir; I must have discipline; come and take dinner
with me."   The officer, however greatly his sensibilities may have
been wounded, could not but appreciate the man who, while thus
faithful to the responsibilities of command, uniformly respected
the manhood of his subordinates; and we believe there was never
an instance in which a reprimand, however sharp or severe, led to
permanent resentment or estrangement.  As for the men in the
ranks, their love of Kearney amounted  to  idolatry.   It was a
passion, deep, intense, headlong.   They swung their caps for him
he was capable of the most wily caution; while often stern and withering in rebuke,
he was generous and forgiving, and though ambitious, he was above all low, mean
jealousies. No officer in the army was more laborious and sleepless; his keen eye was
everywhere; and with an energy that never faltered, he corrected every abuse, and fully
investigated everything that pertained to the discipline and well-being of his division.
If he had lived, his brilliant and chivalrous qualities would have won for him a very
high place in the admiration and gratitude of his country."
103




818              NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
as he passed their camps; gossiped proudly of his peculiarities
and  achievements in  tent and  bivouac; and  wore  his homely
flannel badge, as the Old Guard of Napoleon wore the cross of the
Legion  of Honor.   It was not wonderful that he inspired this
feeling.   He was not merely  faultlessly  brave; he was careful,
even in the heat of the most desperate action, of the safety and
lives of his troops, while in camp  he was ever studious of their
comfort.  Many a delicacy from  his private larder foand its way to
sick and wounded sufferers in the hospitals of his command. Of
these latter he was a constant visitor, and with the details of their
organization, no less than with the wants and condition of all their
inmates, he took care to be always familiar.'~ Thus thoughtfully
cared for-knowing  that whatever fortune might overtake them,
his eye would seek them out and his hand minister to their comfort, it was no wonder that the men revered and confided in him
10 Chaplain Marks in his interesting work, " The Peninsula Campaign in Virginia,"
makes frequent reference to General Kearney's humanity and sympathy with the sick
and wounded. Once he said to the Chaplain, who had been looking after the sick at
Baltimore Cross-Roads, "Everything relating to my sick men touches my heart;" and
"from that hour," adds the writer, " he was my warmest friend."  During the battle
of Fair Oaks, he sent the Chaplain to Savage Station with the instruction, "All the
men of my division that you find there wounded or dead, attend to them, sir, and I
will thank you." This interest in the suffering was exhibited, it should be remembered, during all the excitements and anxieties of battle, and it showed the ever
thoughtful concern of the model soldier for the welfare of his men. The following
letter addressed by him to Chaplain Marks, during the Peninsula campaign, is of deep
interest in this connection:
"HEADQUARTERS, THIRD DIVISION, FAIR OAKS, 
"' June 15, 1862.
" DEAR SIR:-I return you my grateful acknowledgments for your noble and energetic conduct in behalf of our poor sufferers of this Division.
" From long experience in the field no one appreciates more sensibly the service you
thus render to humanity and to our cause.;' If there has been one point, more than another, where I have hitherto laboriously,
and conscientiously, and successfully fulfilled my duties as an officer, it has been in my
solicitude for the sick and disabled. I am thankful to find in you a strong coadjutor;
and when I am a little more free to separate myself from the cares of being on the spot
to command in case of attack, I will ever be found a constant visitor of the hospitals.
" Most respectfully, your obedient servant,
" PHILIP KEARNEY, Brigadier-General."
In a letter after the battle of Fair Oaks, General Kearney wrote:
"One curious fact; knowing the ease of carrying off my sick and wounded from
Fair Oaks (I sent them off early), I was ordered to unload them and abandon them;
but I did not, and carried them off; but, although I had twenty empty wagons, was
prevented taking off those of another hospital. Fortunately, they, too, principally
got clear."




DISTINGUISHED  GENERAL OFFICERS-KEARNEY.                      819
with an absolute trust; no wonder that they followed him gladly
into the thickest danger, and counted a word of approval from his
lips as more than compensating for the sorest pains and the dreariest sufferings.
Nor was the generous kindliness of this rare soldier expended
alone on  the soldiers of his command.  He pitied sincerely the
misfortunes of many among the enemy, and in his wide-reaching
charity of soul lost no opportunity to mitigate the sufferings resulting to Southern families from the presence of our troops among
them.  A  few cases in illustration of this fact deserve to be stated
here.  Among the estates within the limits of Kearney's command,
while lying at Alexandria, was that of Miss. E. P. Herbert. Circumstances having rendered her comparatively helpless, her case
was at once laid before General McClellan in the following characteristic letter:
"HEADQUARTERS NEW JERSEY BRIGADE,
CAMP SEMINARY, November 24, 1861. 
" SIR: I have the honor to apply for a safeguard for the house and property of Miss
E. P. Herbert, in Alexandria. Her case is peculiarly distressing. She was possessor
of " Vancluse," a point in my camp necessary for military occupation, at an early
period. When threatened with an attack I was obliged to garrison the premises by
the two flank companies of Colonel Simpson's Fourth New Jersey Volunteers. The
lady was obliged to leave. Her house in Alexandria had been forced open, and all
her furniture destroyed. She is without any friends, and quite advanced in years,
and cut off from all pecuniary resources-being additionally burthened with her sister,
infirm in mind as in body. In Alexandria, she has not been treated with due consideration. As the military instrument of much of her distress, I feel bound to help
her, and I have done so. She needs it, for her mind has given way to high nervous
excitement and fear.
"A'safeguard' for her residence in Alexandria will do much to secure her from
future annoyances, and to calm her. I respectfully trust that it may be granted.
"Indemnity is due to her, and could not be refused, if her case had a hearing. In
no instance could humanity have juster scope for its exercise.
"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"P. KEARNEY, Brigadier-General."
This letter finely displays both General Kearney's humanity
and sense of justice; and his action in this case is only a type of
other deeds no less noble and generous. Before writing this letter,
he had personally helped the object of his interest, having on the
26th  of October put his banker at her disposal "to the best of
his means," and  tendered her other assistance no less valuable.
Another instance in  which  this same  benevolent temper found




820              NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
expression, is disclosed in a letter to the Assistant Adjutant-General
of Franklin's Division, dated February 12, 1862, as follows:
"SIR: I respectfully again call the attention of General McClellan to the great
distress of Mrs. Godwin, a lady of high social position, and the necessity of her being
permitted to go to Richmond, as she has no male relatives in the North.
"It is now a month since Mr. Godwin died, and left herself and numerous daughters
thus helpless. They have no support except what aid they may receive from myself,
and other officers. Excepting the principle of private individuals passing the lines,
they could easily be left at Mrs. Fitzhugh's, two and a half miles from our post, and
by her forwarded to Manassas.
"They have never had any means of information, and what they witness in my
command can only be in favor of the spirit, comfort and cheerfulness of the Union
army.                Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"P. KEARNEY, Brigadier-General."
But with all his sympathy for the inevitable distresses of war,
with all his commiseration for the misfortunes of the proud and
haughty First Families who suddenly saw  all their props swept
away, General Kearney resented as a personal affront any and all
manifestations of sympathy with treason  within  the limits of his
command.   Himself clear as the day, with his whole nature fired
with lofty zeal, he despised and abhorred all hypocrisies and double-dealing, all infractions of good faith or comity on the part of
those  who  were held  at the mercy of the conqueror.  And his
treatment of all persons so offending was as sharp and decisive as
it was  often  unexpected.  Two  illustrations  only  of his stern
fidelity to principle in cases of this character can be given here,
and that in the form  of letters from  Kearney's own hand.  On the
13th of December, 1861, he wrote to a Mrs. Brooks, of Alexandria,
who had been guilty of a seditious act, as follows:
" IIEADQUARTERS, NEW JERSEY BRIGADE, }
"December, 13, 1861.
" MADAM: Certain articles for a prisoner in my Brigade Hospital, have been received.
They were unnecessary as tending to the comfort of the prisoner, as I had already
supplied him with clothing from my own wardrobe, and the hospital has complete
sets-as to delicacies, they are equally unnecessary, as our own hospital is richly provided. Be assured that in this sad war, I ignore individuals, more particularly if
wounded and prisoners, and that I have made no distinction between this prisoner and
my own people.
" The package, on being examined, contained what was seditious. The insignia of
rebellion attending openly the bouquet presented, is equally liable to condemnation.
"In reference to this, Madam, with the kindest feelings that civil war admits of, I
can only see in it an unpardonable defiance and contempt for the feelings of myself and
command, who have ever been your safeguard and protection. It is aggravating to the
highest point with myself, whom the very consideration I show, above all others, to
the undefended, seditious or Union, causes to detest, despise and loathe those factious,
egotistical Southerners, who have introduced anarchy and schism, reducing us, a proud




DISTINGUISHED  GENERAL OFFICERS-KEARNEY.                       821
first-class Nation, to (if they could) the insignificance, themselves and us, of a petty
German Principality.
" Madam, if I were to construe my duty strictly, it would be to denounce you to the
surveillance of the Alexandria authorities, but I accept as your excuse, the weakness
of your sex, and your unprotected situation. I must, as a friend, caution you for the
future. It was with great difficulty, owing to your sentiments, that I protected you
whilst here. Does it ever occur to you that those who like myself, and most others,
have sacrificed comfort, interest, and their homes, to protect our glorious Union,
must feel insulted, as no male dares to insult us (did we allow private annoyances to
mix with our high vocation), in thus being bearded in the face of our might by expressions of disloyalty, and that as to the individual for whom it is called forth, it could
only prevent or restrain our full benevolence to him as a sufferer?
"With best respects, your obedient servant,
"P. KEARNEY, Brigadier-General.
"P. S. You will please not to hold further communication with the prisoner."
Two days later, the above letter was followed by this note, in
which courtesy and firm  adherence to duty are strangely blended:
"SEMINARY, December 15, 1861.
"DEAR MADAM: I received yours of this date; I did not read it; it was sufficient to
glean from it that you feel aggrieved by me. I most respectfully apologize, and disclaim any feeling of personality, although injured. But in doing so, I am left only my
official duty-that of reporting secret correspondence with the enemy, a prisoner
under my charge.
"With great respect, your obedient servant,
"P. KEARNEY, Brigadier-General.
" To Mrs. BROOKS."
In another case, the action of General Kearney was even more
sharp and decisive.  A  Mrs. E. Godwin having offered an insult
to the flag, he addressed her (March 29, 1862) as follows:
"DEAR MADAM: The conduct of the ladies of your family has been so impudent,
by its public demonstrations, that I am left but one of two alternatives to save you,
viz: The obtaining for you a safeguard from General McClellan; but this obliges an
oath of allegiance to the Union. Ladies do not always like this straining of their
private predilections.
"The other alone remains for me, therefore, viz: The planting over your door, by
my high authority (not, therefore, the abuse as by an irresponsible individual), that
flag of our old Union, under which we have all lived so long, and in which I have so
strong a faith that the North and the South, the East and the West, will sooner or
later be once more united, and all doubts and discord past, will learn once again to
appreciate each other, without reference to section.
"Most devotedly and sincerely, your obedient servant,
"PHILIP KEARNEY,
"Brigadier-General Commanding Camp at Seminary."
The  flag, under which  the  high-strung  Virginia  ladies  had
declared their solemn purpose never again to walk, was planted
over the door, as Kearney promised, and they walked under it,
rebuked and humiliated, spite of all their sneers and boasts, so long
as his authority extended over their acres.




822           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Did the war produce another General in whom were thus united
so many of those high and peculiar traits which go to make the
perfect soldier? Did it produce another who fought more unselfishly
or with more lofty fidelity to principle? Another who, with keener
prophetic eye searched out and foretold the weaknesses and disasters under which we staggered so drearily and long? Another
who, unawed by the frown of authority, always declared with equal
boldness and emphasis the thought that was in him? Another who
looked towards a higher mark, or measured all his deeds by a higher
or broader standard?
MAJOR-GENERAL GERSHOM MOTT.
Major-General Gershom Mott is a native of Mercer County, in
this State, and upon the commencement of the rebellion was thirtynine years of age. During the Mexican war he served with marked
credit as Second Lieutenant in the Tenth Infantry, one of the ten
regiments which were attached to the regular army during that
period. At the time when the first call was made for volunteers
to aid in suppressing the rebellion, he held a desirable position as
cashier of the Bordentown Banking Company, but with genuine
patriotic feeling, he at once offered his services to Governor Olden
in'any capacity he might designate, and on the 4th of August,
1861, was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifth New Jersey
Volunteers.  This regiment, which was composed of a superior
class of men, he thoroughly drilled and disciplined-being its commanding officer during nearly all the time he was connected with
it-advancing it to a high state of efficiency and preparing it for
the arduous and terrible campaigns in which it was destined to
share. In the first demonstration against the enemy made by the
Second New Jersey Brigade, this regiment carried off the honors,
being selected by General Hooker to cross the Potomac and seize
the rebel works at Cockpit Point, which was done, under Mott's
direction, in the most gallant and satisfactory manner. In the
memorable battle of Williamsburg, the regiment fought with the
most obstinate bravery, occupying an advanced position, and ren



DISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERS —OTT.          823
dering service of inestimable value in the general plan of operations. Immediately after this battle, Mott, who had distinguished
himself by his coolness and courage, was promoted (May 7, 1862)
to the Colonelcy of the Sixth Regiment. This regiment he commanded with such skill and success in all the contests in which it
participated on the Peninsula and up to the second Bull Run, as to
win the lavish encomiums of his superiors, eliciting from them a
strong and unanimous recommendation for his promotion to a Brigadier-Generalship. The President, satisfied of his merits as an officer and soldier, promptly acted upon this recommendation, ordering
the promotion on the 7th of September. At this time Mott was
at home suffering from a wound received at Bull Run while gallantly leading and encouraging his men, but as soon as possible
(December 4th) returned to the field, and, upon the urgent request
of General Hooker, then commanding the Center Grand Division
of the Army of the Potomac, was assigned to the command of the
Third Brigade, Second Division, Third Corps, or what was more
generally recognized as the Second New Jersey Brigade, then composed of the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth New Jersey and the
One Hundred and Fifteenth Pennsylvania and Second New York
Regiments. In the battle of Chancellorsville, this brigade displayed the most heroic gallantry, bearing the brunt of the fighting
on that part of the line where it was placed. Here, General Mott,
who fought with the same bravery and skill as on other fields, at
one time carrying the colors in his own hand as his columns swept
to the assault, was again wounded, but refused to leave the front
until completely exhausted from loss of blood, when he retired a
short distance to the rear. On the 29th of August, having recovered from this wound, he rejoined his command at Bealton, and on
the 15th of October engaged the enemy at McLean's Ford, where,
being in sole command of our forces, he handsomely defeated a
large body of the enemy. On the 3d of April, 1864, as the army
commenced its Grand Advance upon the enemy, General Mott was
placed in command of the Second Division of the Third Corps,
but subsequently, upon the consolidation of the Fourth and Third
Divisions of that Corps, and their incorporation with the Second




824           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Corps as one division (the Third), fell back temporarily to his old
brigade. Shortly after, however, he again took command of the
division, and held that position until the close of the war. On the
10th of September, 1864, he was brevetted Major-General, and
after the army broke up, was put in command of a division of
the Provisional Corps which was then formed-the division consisting of the remnants of the old Second Corps. Upon that corps
being mustered out, he was ordered to report to the Department of
Washington (July 28, 1865), and on the 5th of August was made
a member of the Wirz Commission.  Subsequently (on the 25th
of November, 1865), he was appointed on the Commission to investigate the difficulties between the State of Massachusetts and the
Austrian Government, growing out of the enlistment of Austrian
subjects by the former.  He remained on this commission until the
15th of January, 1866, having been made a full Major-General on
the 1st of December preceding.  On the 20th of February following,
his resignation from the service, sent in some months previously,
was accepted, and he retired to private life, carrying with him the
warmest expressions of confidence from Secretary Stanton and
other members of the Government.
General Mott was the first officer of volunteers who was brevetted a Major-General from the Army of the Potomac, and is the
only full Major-General from New Jersey.  As a soldier his record
is without spot, and his advancement was purely the result of
merit.  Some Generals-not a few, indeed-acquired prominence
rather through the friendly intervention of politicians and hired
correspondents, than by actual performance in the field; but Mott
owed nothing to influences of this character, suffering rather from
the hostility of the one and the prejudice of the other. More than
once, the credit of achievements performed by his brigade and division was ascribed to others, and even the historians of the war
have not altogether corrected the false judgments of cotemporaneous writers as to a number of engagements in which he participated, as is clearly shown elsewhere in the history of the Second New
Jersey Brigade.
As a disciplinarian, General Mott possessed qualities of the




DISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERS-BIOTT.           825
highest order, and his division was at all times conspicuous both for
the efficiency of its officers and the courage and endurance of its
men. At one time during the campaign from the Wilderness to
Petersburg, General Mott furnished from his division over half a
dozen Colonels to command brigades in other divisions, and all
justified the confidence which induced his superiors to look to his
command for officers of the highest skill and capacity. But with
all his admitted courage and genuine capacity, Mott had little
magnetism of character, and rarely depended for success upon the
arts of command. He was purely a man of method, as was natural in view of his education and business pursuits, and he held
tenaciously to military rules, being inclined, indeed, to view with
a sort of contempt any officer who failed to fight militarily, in
precise accordance with established regulations.  He was at all
times thoroughly self-possessed in action, but was not always above
the influence of passion. With his familiars he was genial and
hearty to the last degree, but could be frigid as an iceberg to any
against whom, whether justly or otherwise, he had conceived a
prejudice. During the battle of Chancellorsville, having been carried to the rear when exhausted from loss of blood, an officer of a
regiment in his brigade, entered the place where he was lying, some
mile or so from the front, and seemed about to make himself comfortable, when Mott, seeing no signs of any wound on the person
of the visitor, enquired sharply, " What are you doing here, sir?"
The officer replied that he had been injured, but his manner showing that he was really skulking, Mott, too indignant for speech,
turned his face to the wall with an air that said, "begone, thou
coward," and from that hour, there was a barrier between that officer and himself that nothing could ever beat down.
General Mott was four times wounded-once in each year of the
term during which he was in the service. When last wounded,
during the pursuit of Lee, his division had just come up with the
rear guard of the enemy, and but for his being compelled to leave
the field and abandon to others the execution of his combinations,
some thousands of the rebels, with a large part of their train, must
have been captured.  All were, indeed, a few days afterwards sur104




826          NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
rendered, but it would have been a fitting close to Mott's career,
and a crowning glory to the old Second Brigade, could the enemy
have been at that time captured and held as trophies of New Jersey
valor and endurance.
BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL TORBERT.
A. T. A. Torbert entered the Military Academy at West Point
in 1851, and graduated four years after, in 1855, being promoted
to Second Lieutenant in the Fifth United States Infantry. He
joined that regiment in the same year, in Texas, and served continuously until 1861 on the fiontiers of that State, and in Florida,
Utah and New Mexico. In February, 1861, he was promoted to
First Lieutenant, and on the 17th of April following reported to
Governor Olden, of New Jersey, by order of the War Department,
for mustering duty. He continued in the performance of this duty
until September of the same year, being promoted in August to
Captain and Assistant Quartermaster. In September he declined a
staff appointment, and was promoted Captain in the Fifth Infantry.
About the same time he received permission from the War Department to accept the Colonelcy of a regiment of Volunteers, and was
thereupon made Colonel of the First New Jersey by Governor
Olden, assuming command on the 17th, at Camp Seminary, Virginia.
During the fall and winter months he devoted himself to the work
of drilling and disciplining the regiment for active service, and
soon advanced it to a state of proficiency which enlisted the warmest encomiums from General Kearney and others. In March, 1862,
Colonel Torbert commanded his regiment in McClellan's advance
to Manassas, and subsequently accompanied it to the Peninsula,
serving in that disastrous campaign from  March to July, being
engaged in the battle of West Point, the skirmish at Mechanicsville, the battle of Gaines' Mill, and in the seven days' fight in
McClellan's retreat to the James River. In August, 1862, he was
assigned to the command of the First New Jersey Brigade, known
as the First Brigade, First Division,' Sixth Army Corps, then lying
near Alexandria, Virginia.  The brigade took part in General




DISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERS-TORBERT.    827
Pope's campaign, and subsequently in the campaign in Maryland
under General McClellan, participating in the battles of Crampton's
Pass and Antietam. Upon the termination of this campaign, the
Fifteenth and Twenty-third New Jersey Regiments were assigned
to the brigade. Torbert participated with his command in the
battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862, and in January,
1863, left on sick leave, not being present at the second Fredericksburg battle. In the following June he rejoined the brigade
near Fairfax Court House, and marched with the army, under
Hooker, into Maryland, serving through the whole of the Maryland and Pennsylvania campaigns, under General Meade-taking
part in the battles of Gettysburg and Fairfield, in July, 1863. He
then commanded the brigade continuously down to April, 1864,
when he was placed in command of the First Division of the Cavalry, Army of the Potomac, and moved with it in the Grand
Advance. In May, he was assigned to the command of all the
cavalry (about three thousand) with that army, General Sheridan
being on the Richmond road with the Cavalry Corps proper. Torbert commanded at the cavalry fights at Milford Station on the
Fredericksburg and Richmond Railroad, May 21st, and on the
North Anna three days later. Joining his division on the 26th,
he commanded in the engagement at Hano.vertown on the 27th,
and was present at the fight at Hawes' Shop on the 28th. lie then
commanded in the actions at Old Church on the 30th, and at Cold
Harbor on the 31st and June 1st, subsequently taking part in the
cavalry engagements at Trevillian Station, June 11th, at Malloway's Ford Cross Road, June 12th, at White House and Tanstall's Station, June 21st, and at Darbytown June 28th.  On
the 30th of July he was ordered to embark at City Point
with his division, proceed to Washington, and report to General
Sheridan at Harper's Ferry. Reporting on the 8th of August, he
was promoted to Chief of Cavalry of the Middle Military Division,
on the staff of the General of Cavalry-his command consisting of
the First and Third Cavalry Divisions from the Army of the Potomac, commanded by Generals Merrit and Wilson, and the Second
Cavalry Division of the Army of the Shenandoah, commanded by




828          NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
General Averill. In the fighting in that department, Torbert had
a conspicuous part, commanding at the battle of Winchester,
August 17th, and at Kearneysville (with the First and Third Divisions), August 25th. In the famous battle at Opequan, September
19th, he commanded in person the First and Second Divisions,
sharing also actively in other engagements following upon that
victory. In the fights at Mount Crawford, October 2d, and at
Toms River on the 9th, he commanded the First and Third Divisions, under Merrit and Custer.  In the general engagement at
Cedar Creek, October 19th, he commanded the First, Second and
Third Divisions, and November 12th, was present at the engagement near Middletown. He then commanded at Liberty Mills,
December 22d, with the First and Second Divisions, Army of the
Shenandoah, and at Gordonsville, December 23d, with the same
command. On the 9th of September, of that year, he had been
promoted to brevet Major-General, and assigned to duty by the
President according to his brevet rank. On the 23d of April, 1865,
he was assigned to the command of the Army of the Shenandoah,
headquarters at Winchester —the command embracing three divisions of infantry, one of cavalry, and six batteries. On the 12th
of July, this army being broken up, he was assigned to the command of the District of Southeastern Virginia, headquarters at
Norfolk. He was relieved from command and mustered out of
the service of volunteer rank in December, 1865, and November
1, 1866, having meanwhile been on leave of absence, resigned from
the army and retired to private life. He was once wounded slightly,
namely, on September 14, 1862, at Crampton's Pass, Marylandwhere his brigade, as shown in another part of this work, performed
one of the most brilliant feats of the war. During the war he
received the following brevets in the Regular Army: brevet Majorj
July 4, 1863, for gallant and meritorious services at the battle of
Gettysburg; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel, May 28, 1864, for gallant
services at Hawes' Shop; brevet Colonel, September 19, 1864, for
gallant services at the battle of Winchester; brevet Brigadier-General, March 13, 1865, for bravery at Cedar Creek; brevet MajorGeneral, March 13, 1865, for meritorious services during the whr.




DISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERS-TORBERT.            829
Few officers were more highly esteemed by the authorities of
New Jersey than General Torbert. It was owing in a large degree
to his industry and fidelity that they were enabled at the outbreak
of hostilities to promptly fill all the requisitions made upon them
for troops-his experience and familiarity with the methods of
organization wonderfully diminishing the difficulties of the task
which was so suddenly imposed upon them. For a period of six
months, Torbert labored in this work with unexampled activity,
proving a strong right arm to the Executive-never shrinking for
a moment from any undertaking, however formidable; never failing in the performance of any duty laid upon him. Yet all this
while there were some, strange to say, who questioned his loyalty,
and who labored to undermine him  in the confidence of the
authorities and impair his influence with those by whom he was
surrounded. This hostility, so far as has ever been ascertained,
had no better foundation than the fact that General Torbert was a
native of the South, and had been associated for the most part
with Southern officers-having many influential friends among
Southern politicians, with whose views upon the slavery question
he in some degree coincided.  But over against this stood the fact
that with the very first mutter of treason he arrayed himself vigorously and earnestly on the loyal side, doing more than any single mustering officer in the Northern States to hurry troops to the
field to aid in maintaining the authority of the Government, and
the further fact also that he was at all times outspoken and emphatic in denouncing the whole rebellious conspiracy, never hesitating to rebuke in others the slightest expression of sympathy with
it.  These facts, amounting to positive evidence, finally, it is gratifying to know, were generally accepted as conclusive as to Torbert's status: and if, later in the war, when his saber was flashing
over the heads of the Nation's enemies, any still entertained doubts
as to his loyalty, they must have been of the class with whom
neither argument nor reason can overcome the influence of irrational prejudice.
As a soldier, General Torbert was courageous, vigilant, skillful;
with excellent natural capacities for command, uniting much




830           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
acquired information as to the high arts and rules of war, which made
him, in point of qualification, vastly the superior of many who
ranked him in the service. As a cavalry officer, he displayed peculiarly brilliant qualities, his entire connection with that arm of the
service being in the highest degree creditable to himself and the
army.  Sheridan, under whose eye he fought, held him in the
highest estimation, finding in him many of the soldierly elements
which, in his own character, shone so conspicuously. In the battles in the Shenandoah, during the summer and fall of 1864, Torbert was ever foremost in grappling with the enemy, and no blows
were sharper or more severe than those which his divisions inflicted
upon Early as, finally, he went reeling down the valley, utterly
discomfited and broken.  Torbert's success in this branch of the
service was the result not merely of skill in combination and high
personal courage, but in a large measure also of the enthusiasm with
which he fought, and which, inspiring his' command with confidence, made it irresistible, whether in the impetuosity of its attack
or the stubborn tenacity with which, when assailed, it held its
ground and beat back the assailant.
General Torbert, like the majority of the General officers from
New Jersey, was comparatively young in years, being at the time
he took command of the First Regiment, under thirty years of
age.  Upon resigning his position in the army and retiring to private life, he took up his residence at Delaware, where, possessing
a large estate, he rests in the shadow of his own vine, with no
breath of war blowing among the leaves, no menace of treason
disturbing the peaceful calm in which, after battles many and
perilous, he has happily anchored.
BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL ROBERT MCALLISTER.
Major-General Robert McAllister, at the time the rebellion commenced, was a citizen of Oxford Furnace, New Jersey, engaged
in an important enterprise, which demanded his closest attention.
He had already reached the age at which, ordinarily, men of the
better class prefer the ease and quiet of the well-ordered family




DISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERS-MC ALLISTER.   831
circle to the tumults and attritions of worldly strife; and was,
besides, exempt, by virtue of his years, from the obligation to perform military duty. But he was a man of profoundly patriotic
instincts, of deep and pervading religious convictions, a lover of
liberty, a respecter of law; and when that blow was struck
which menaced law, order, religion and every other high and sacred
interest with destruction, he surrendered, in a moment, business,
home, and all accustomed comforts, and with only a burning desire
to be useful, gave himself to the country.
Immediately enlisting a company of men upon the first call for
three year's troops, he reported at Trenton early in May, 1861, and
on the 21st of that month was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the
First Regiment, serving in that capacity, although really in command during most of the time, until July 28, 1862, when he was
appointed Colonel of the Eleventh Regiment, of which he at once
assumed command, and with which he remained until June 6, 1864.
In October, 1862, as ranking Colonel, he took command of the
First Brigade, Second Division, Third Corps, to which his regiment
was attached. Upon the consolidation of the Third Corps with
the Second he was placed temporarily, in the midst of a battle, in
charge of the Second Brigade, Third Division, Second Corps,
directing its operations in all the engagements in which it participated. On the 24th of June (1864) following, he was relieved and
took command of the Third Brigade, Third Division, Second Corps
(Second New Jersey Brigade), remaining in that position during
the remainder of the war. On the 27th of October, 1864, he was
appointed Brigadier-General by brevet, "for gallant and distinguished services at Boydton Plank Road," and on the 13th of
March, 1865, was further recognized by appointment as brevet
Major-General " for meritorious services during the war." He was
mustered out of the service on the 6th of June, 1865.
From  the outset of his career, General McAllister was a man of
work and action. Sharing in the first battle of the war, he participated also in the last. In all, he was engaged in some forty battles, extending all the way from West Point to the fall of Petersburg.  He was present at the first Bull Run, rendering efficient




832            NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
service in arresting the retreat of our forces, and also at the siege
of Yorktown, though not actually engaged in the operations before
that place. In the battle of West Point, he fought with great gallantry, and participated also in the battles of Gaines' Mill, Charles
City Cross Roads, White Oak Swamp, and Malvern Hill.  In the
engagement at Gaines' Mill his regiment suffered severely, having
been ordered into the woods and kept there by Fitz John Porter,
who refused to permit fresh troops to go to its relief.  Subsequently, General McAllister shared in the desperate fighting at
Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, being severely
wounded in the latter engagement. After an absence of ninety
days, he returned to the field and participated in the engagement
at Jacob's Ford on the Rappahannock, being the first man to land,
under heavy fire from the enemy, in the crossing at Kelley's Ford
prior to this fight. He was present, during the same campaign, at
Locust Grove and Mine Run, and in the last grand advance participated in all the battles of the Wilderness, at Spottsylvania, the
North Anna, Coal Harbor, Petersburg, Deep Bottom. Strawberry
Plains, Weldon Railroad, Reams' Station, Boydton Plank Road,
Hatcher's Run, Poplar Grove Church, and in the final contests before Richmond-especially distinguishing himself in a picket line
line fight on the 5th of February, 1865, and in the crowning victory of the war-the capture of the enemy's works before Petersburg.  In many of these engagements, as at Hatcher's Run and
Boydton Plank Road, General McAllister by his coolness and
intrepidity won the special commendations of his superiors. All
the Generals under whom he served, including Humphreys, Prince,
Carr and several others, united in recommending his promotion,
bearing the highest testimony to his efficiency and courage as an
officer, and his worth and excellence as a man,' and he retired
1 Among these letters were the following:
"To his Excellency, the President of the United States:
"I have the honor most respectfully to recommend for promotion, Colonel Robert
McAllister, commanding the Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
" He has served under my command for the last year and participated in the battles
of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, where he was severely wounded.
On all occasions he has distinguished himself as a cool, intrepid, skillful commander.
" Colonel McAllister's qualities as a disciplinarian, and extensive experience in the




DISTINGUISHED  GENERAL OFFICERS-MC ALLISTER.    838
from the army of the Potomac as highly and sincerely respected
as any man, perhaps, who had helped to make its name immortal.
Yet General McAllister was not a brilliant officer, as the world
uses that term. He had none of the nervous vehemence of Kearney, none of the dazzle and dash of Sheridan. In the heat of the
fiercest battle he was as cool and calm as on parade. Plain and
unpretending, indifferent to the  dignity  and  apparently  unconscious of the privileges and claims of rank, with a temperament
which nothing ever disturbed, he seemed, at the outset, to many
who did not know  him, destitute of every  essential quality of a
commander; and there is no doubt that for a time he suffered in
the estimation of some of his superiors, as well as of his own command, from the excessive simplicity of his carriage and the utter
absence of that sort of bluster which for awhile passed current in
the army and among the people for genuine courage. Indeed, the
more thoughtless and reckless among  his own regiment, seeing
him live soberly and simply, and laboring incessantly to improve
the morals as well as the soldierly efficiency of his troops, were
wont to grow jocular, around the camp fire, over his more homely
peculiarities. But when the hour for fighting came, and battle
field, well qualify him for the position of a Brigadier-General, and as a reward for the
many valuable services he has rendered his country, I submit for him a promotion to
that position.
"I am sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
" JOSEP  B. CARR, Brigadier-General, United States Volunteers."
General Humphreys, in a letter of October 28, 1863, concurred in the opinion thus
expressed by General Carr, as to the value of General McAllister's services.
"HEADQUARTERS, SECOND DIVISION, THIRD CORPS,
"BRANDY STATION, VIRGINIA, November 23, 1863.
"Honorable E. M. STAN TON, Secretary of War:
"SIR: I have heard of the recommendation of Colonel Robert- McAllister for promotion, and beg leave to say as the least in his behalf which my acquaintance will
justify:
"The Colonel has commanded a brigade in my division for a month and a half, and
is now relieved in consequence of the seniority of another officer who has joined for
duty.
" During this time we have been marching and changing position almost constantly,
and he has discharged the duties of Brigade Commander satisfactorily. He has shown
himself to be a man of high character, both as a soldier and a gentleman, always performing his duty conscientiously, and stimulating others to do the same. His general
conduct undoubtedly commands the favorable consideration of the War Department.
"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"HENRY PRINCE, Brigadier-General of Volunteers, commanding Division."
105




834           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
had been joined, neither officers nor men-neither his superiors
nor subordinates-cared to remember that they had ever thought
of him otherwise than proudly. When that time came, he met it,
calmly indeed, but with a courage, a resolution, an indifference to
danger which drew all eyes unto him, and from every lip extorted
praise. Wherever the fire was thickest and most deadly, wherever
a wavering line needed encouragement or the stimulus of dauntless
example, wherever a "forlorn hope" was called to do the barely
possible, there he was ever found, fighting sturdily to the last with
unfailing confidence and a face unblanched. Surrounded and left
to fight alone, with a girdle of fire and steel all about him, as at
Hatcher's Run, or menaced and sorely pressed by overwhelming
numbers, as at the salient point of Spottsylvania's crimson field,
he was equal always to the great emergency-never abandoning a
field that could be won; winning often where more pretentious
or more "brilliant" men, trying, would have failed.  Not a
soldier of the schools; slow, perhaps, to apprehend and practice
upon nice military rules, he yet had what is better than all the
knowledge of the books-perfect and entire fearlessness, joined
with the sturdiest tenacity of purpose; and these, making him a
leader and so an inspiration to his followers, gave him success in
the most desperate and exhausting straits, and secured him a place,
by common voice, among the "fighting Generals" of the war
whose hearts, as well as their hands, were in the work to which
they had been called.
But General McAllister was not merely conspicuous for courage
on the field in the hour of battle. He was hardly less distinguished
for the blamelessness of his life in camp and his conscientious devotion to his duties as a Christian. IXe was one of those who carried
their religion with them to the field, and illustrated in the midst of
all its jostling vices, all its clamorous temptations, the virtues which
religion nourishes and enriches. No regiments were ever more
faithfully and jealously guarded from the evils so largely incident
to army life than those which he commanded.  In him every Chaplain had a supporter, every soldier tempted or led astray, a counsellor and friend. Nor was he without his reward in this labor of




DISTINGUISHED  GENERAL OFFICERS-RAMSEY.                      835
love. In his own regiment, the Eleventh, the practice of temperance and kindred virtues became, in time, the rule rather than the
exception; and not a few who at first were among the scoffers, came
at last to holiness of living. Who shall say what a vastly greater
moral influence the army of this nation might have acquired, or
how infinitely its conception of the nature of our struggle might
have been elevated, had all men in command, standing as exemplars and guides, been equally faithful to the moral interests of
those subjected to their control!2
BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN RAMSEY.
John Ramsey entered the military service of the United States
as First Lieutenant of Company G, Second Regiment New Jersey
State Militia. The Captain of the company being elected Colonel
of the regiment, Lieutenant Ramsey was made Captain (April 28,
1861), and in that capacity served during his term of enlistment.
Upon the return of his regiment, he organized another company
2 Chaplain Cline, of the Eleventh Regiment, says of General McAllister:'He was a self-denying, laborious officer; often performing duties which men in
the same position generally devolved on subordinate officers-doing this, for fear all
might not be done right. And he knew no danger; always in the extreme front, never
asking anybody to go where he had not been first himself. I could give many instances
of great bravery and devotion to his work, but will mention only one. During those
fearful battles of the Wilderness, he worked so hard, and was so careful and anxious,
both day and night (as he always was in time of special danger), that he was entirely
exhausted, but would not give up. Two horses had been shot under him; he had
received a blow on an old wound sustained at Gettysburg, and was suffering from this,
but he would not listen to his friends and take the rest he absolutely needed. After
the enemy had retired from our immediate point, he did go back to the hospital to get
a quiet night's sleep, but next morning, early, he was at his post again. His conduct
was regulated by a pure love of country, and a strict conscientiousness. There was
no affectation in his fervid patriotism, no absorbing ambition for military renown in his
desire to meet the foe; but a quiet determination, and an inflexible firmness which
were not always seen. He brought to the service a character mellowed by religious
culture, and was throughout a Christian officer; loving the approval of conscience
more than the plaudits of men."
The following is an extract from a letter written by Brigadier-General Carr, after the
battle of Gettysburg, to a daughter of General McAllister, referring to his action in
that conflict:
" The conduct of Colonel McAllister on that occasion, as well as at Chancellorsville, was such ag to merit the admiration and highest encomiums of not only his
superior officers, but also his brave followers, and others to whom he was entirely
unknown. You have every reason, as well as the State he represents, to feel proud
of your father."




836          NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
and was commissioned (August 28th) as Captain, the company
being attached to the Fifth (three years) Regiment. In May, 1862,
Captain Ramsey was commissioned as Major of this regiment for
"distinguished gallantry at Williamsburg," where he had fought
with great bravery. Five months later (October 21st), he was
made Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment, and in the April following was promoted to the Colonelcy of the Eighth Regiment. In
December, 1864, he received a commission as brevet BrigadierGeneral, and was assigned to duty with that rank. He was brevetted Major-General April 16, 1865, and mustered out of the
service in June, two months later.
General Ramsey participated in the siege of Yorktown and all
the principal battles of the Peninsula, in the second Bull Run,
Bristow, Chantilly, McLean's Ford, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Petersburg and a number of other
engagements-exhibiting in all the highest courage and finest soldierly proficiency. He was three times wounded, once at Chancellorsville, once at Gettysburg and a third time, severely, at Petersburg. General Ramsey was not as covetous of applause as many
others, and was, perhaps, less careful than some to improve his
opportunities for advancement, but as a stubborn fighter he had
few superiors. Indeed, if he did not actually relish the excitements of battle, he always entered into them without reluctance,
and never failed to strike telling blows. While in command of a
brigade, he did some of the most effective fighting of the last
grand campaign, and more than once received honorable mention
in official reports.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL WILLIAM J. SEWELL.
Among the many New Jersey officers who were conspicuous for
the rarest gallantry, none possessed a more genuine soldierly spirit,
and displayed higher capacities for command, than William J.
Sewell. Mustered into service as a Captain in the Fifth Regiment,
Angust 28, 1861, he was among the first to exhibit a true conception of the necessities of the service, and promptly adapting him



DISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERS-SEWELL.            837
self to its requirements, proved from the very outset a disciplinarian of the highest order, as well as an invaluable support to his
superiors in all matters affecting the welfare of the regiment. Participating with his regiment in every action in which the corps
was engaged, from the assault upon Yorktown down to the battle
of Spottsylvania, in May, 1864, his courage shone conspicuously on
every field, while his readiness of apprehension and fertility of
resource in desperate emergencies, marked him on all occasions as
a man of superior talents. In the battle of Chancellorsville, General Mott being wounded, Sewell succeeded to the command of the
brigade, and leading it forward at a critical moment, achieved one
of the grandest successes of the war, capturing eight colors from
the enemy and retaking the regimental standard of a New York
Regiment.  The story of this achievement, as fully told in the
history of the Second Brigade, is alone sufficient to stamp this gallant officer as worthy of a place among the best and bravest soldiers of the Republic. But he need not rely upon this deed alone
for the rewards of fame. At Gettysburg and elsewhere he exhibited the same magnificent bravery, adding to the reputation achieved
in earlier conflicts.  He was twice wounded-once at Chancellorsville, and again at Gettysburg, where he sustained a severe hurt,
while commanding the skirmish line in front of the Third Corps,
during the attack of Longstreet in the second day's engagement.
He was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifth Regiment, July 7,
1862, and Colonel on the 21st of October following, both promotions
being made on the recommendation of Colonel Starr, one of the
bravest and most finished officers connected with the service,
whose faithful performance of duty as Colonel of this regiment
never received due recognition at the hands of Jerseymen. On
the 30th of September, 1864, Colonel Sewell, who had been compelled to leave the service temporarily on account of illness, resulting from long exposure, was made Colonel of the Thirty-eighth
Regiment, then about organizing, and with it returned to the field,
where he remained until the summer of 1865.  He was made brevet Brigadier-General of volunteers, April 9, 1866, "for gallant
and meritorious conduct in the battle of Chancellorsville," and no
honor was ever more worthily or justly bestowed.




838           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
An analysis of General Sewell's character would probably show
that his success as a soldier was largely due to a certain vehemence
and hauteur of disposition which could not brook opposition or
defeat. Once fairly entered upon an enterprise, his natural enthusiasm carried him impetuously forward, while his great strength
and obstinacy of will, enabled him to overcome obstacles which
would have entirely baffled men of less resolute purpose.  All his
qualities as an officer were solid, robust, positive, and his reputation rests now, as it will continue to do in the future, upon a basis
of solid achievement of which the whole State may justly be proud.
MAJOR-GENERAL JUDSON KILPATRICK.
Among the earliest volunteers in the service of the Union, when
Southern traitors assailed its integrity, was Judson Kilpatrick, then
a cadet at the Military Academy at West Point. Fired with patriotic ardor, immediately upon graduating he entered the field, and
was among the first to fall wounded at Big Bethel, June 11, 1861,
in the first battle of the war.  Recovering from  his wound, he
recruited in Sussex County two companies for the Harris Light
Cavalry, of which he was made Lieutenant-Colonel, being also in
September promoted to First Lieutenant, First Artillery, in the
Regular Army.  Winning rapidly the respect of his superiors, he
was soon after made a member of the board for examining cavalry
officers of the volunteer service, and performed, in addition to
other duties, that of Inspector-General of McDowell's Division.
In all the earlier cavalry engagements of the war, he was conspicuous, exhibiting an intrepidity, dash and readiness of resource
which no other officer in that branch of the service had ever displayed. In 1862, he inaugurated a series of "raids" which, in
point of daring, rapidity of execution, and effectiveness of results,
were altogether unequalled, appalling the enemy while they filled
the whole North with exultation.  In the battles of Brandy
Station, Sulphur Springs, Groveton, Haymarket, and the second
Bull Run, he was ever prominent, winning fresh laurels in each
conflict, and coming to be recognized as, at that time, the cavalry




DISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERS-KILPATRICK.   839
leader of the war.  When the Cavalry Corps of the Potomac
Army was organized, he was placed in command of a brigade,
and in the Stoneman expedition advanced to within two miles of
Richmond, inflicting immense damage upon the communications
of the enemy. In subsequent battles, all of which are described
more or less fully in the account of the Sussex Squadron of the
Harris Light Cavalry, Kilpatrick performed eminent service, and
upon the reorganization of the army, under General Meade, was
placed in command of a division as Brigadier-General.  His
record subsequent to this date was the record of the war in Virginia, and to rehearse it here would only be to reproduce some
of the brighest pages of the history of the Grand Army of the
Potomac.
General Sherman having been assigned to the command of the
Military Division of the Mississippi, General Kilpatrick was ordered
to report to him at Nashville, being there assigned to a cavalry
command and at once sent to the front. When the armies under
Sherman moved against the enemy, Kilpatrick led the advance
with the column commanded by General Hooker, but subsequently
co-operated with the Army of the Tennessee in its movements on
Resaca, Georgia, success attending all his movements, until, in one
of the engagements before that place, he was badly wounded and
compelled to leave the field. Going North, he remained in quiet
for a brief period, but growing impatient, returned to the front,
against the advice of his physician, in time to participate in the
final movements against Atlanta. In the March to the Sea, he
several times engaged the cavalry of the enemy, in all cases putting
him  to rout, and by his uniform success winning new laurels.
General Sherman, upon reaching Savannah, thus recognized the
valuable services of the Jersey General: " I beg to assure you that
the operations of the cavalry have been skillful and eminently successful. The fact that to you, in a great measure, we owe the march
of four strong infantry columns, with heavy trains and wagons,
over three hundred miles through an enemy's country, without the
loss of a single wagon, and without the annoyance of cavalry dashes
on our flanks, is honor enough for any cavalry commander." On




840           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
the 14th of January, 1865, Kilpatrick was made Major-General,
and a week later started on the Carolina campaign.
Of the services of the cavalry in that memorable campaign, it
need only be said that they insured the complete success of Sherman's plans, and that to no one man was that result more largely
due than to Judson Kilpatrick.  In one instance he defeated, with
only a portion of his command, the combined forces of Generals
Wheeler and Wade Hampton, and in every engagement his courage and capacity had fresh and honorable development, insomuch
that with the close of the campaign and the war, no name shone
more lustrously than his.
As to General Kilpatrick's characteristics, it need only be said
that he was a genuine soldier in the very broadest understanding
of the character, and withal was a patriot of the purest and most
unselfish type. His success in the field greatly depended upon the
magnetism of his example, and the care he took of his men-their
arms, equipments, clothing and subsistence, being looked after by
him with anxious solicitude. Readiness of mind was another strong
element of his character; his fertility of resources and ability to take
advantage of occasions as they arose, giving him a constant advantage.  There was, too, his rare knowledge of men, and acquaintance with human nature. He knew how to put " the right man
in the right place," and always kept the right sort of men about
him, even to his orderly, his servant, and his cook. Yet another
trait that contributed to his success was, his great tact and business
talent, or " administrative ability," in which he so far excelled the
most of military men as to place him, in this respect, beyond competitors; for his natural powers, in themselves quick, ready, elastic,
were improved by science, study, and cultivation, and, combined
with tact, rendered him pre-eminent and successful.'
As a fighter, Kilpatrick was audacious, impudent, and fearless
to a fault.  Some have questioned his courage; but those who
know him  best, know that no braver soldier ever went afield.
Self-reliant in a remarkable degree, he believed himself the equal
1 Sketch of Kilpatrick, by Doctor James Moore.




DISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERS-HECKMAN.    841
of the best man in the land, and he never for one instant lowered
his sword in fear, no matter how great the odds against him. There
were more intellectual men, men of more solidity of character
among the Generals of the Union army, but there were none who
more faithfully or successfully performed the work assigned them,
or fought with loftier or nobler purpose, than General Judson
Kilpatrick.
BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL CHARLES A. HECKMAN.
Charles A. Heckman was born at Easton, Pennsylvania, December 3, 1822, and entered upon his military career during the war
with Mexico, in which he served as First Lieutenant of Company
H, First United States Voltigeurs, taking part in the battles of
National Bridge, Contreras, Cherubusco, Molino del Rey, and
Chapultepec, and being present at the capture of the City of
Mexico. Upon his return to his home at the conclusion of the
war, he was engaged as a conductor by the Central Railroad Company of New Jersey, remaining in the service of that Company
until the commencement of the rebellion, when, under the first
call of the President, he raised a company of volunteers, which,
by order of Governor Curtin, was assigned to the First Pennsylvania Regiment.  Serving with  distinction  during the three
months' campaign, Heckman returned to Phillipsburg, New Jersey,
but additional troops being called for, he once more responded,
being made Major of the Ninth Regiment by Governor Olden,
who discovered in him peculiar qualifications for a command.
Indeed, it was mainly owing to his knowledge and skill that this
regiment was so rapidly advanced in efficiency, no officer but himself being at the time of its organization sufficiently familiar with
the rifle practice to drill the men therein with any degree of intelligence or profit.
Upon reaching the field, Heckman at once became conspicuous
as a soldier of the highest accomplishments. Perhaps no General
officer ever behaved with greater gallantry in action than he. He
was, as truly as any man that ever lived, insensible to fear.
106




842          NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
During the whole period of his service, he was never once found
in any other position than at the head of his columns. Indeed,
in his headlong bravery, he often exposed himself unnecessarily,
pushing beyond his lines, usually accompanied only by Surgeon
Woodhull, straight into the jaws of danger. But he did this, like
everything else, upon principle. He felt it to be his duty never
to trust to others what he could do himself, and held it to be an
evasion of responsibility to ask his command to engage in any
service, dangerous or otherwise, in which he was not willing to
participate. It is somewhat remarkable that although thus constantly exposing himself, mingling always in the thickest of the
fight, he was never wounded. His clothing, however, was repeatedly perforated by bullets.
In the winter of 1864, having been made a Brigadier-General
two years before, Heckman relieved Major-General Getty in the
command of twenty thousand troops defending the approaches to
Norfolk, and subsequently was offered by General Butler command of a division of infantry with two regiments of cavalry, and
a battery of artillery. The Old Star Brigade to which Heckman
was greatly attached, not being included in the proffered command,
this offer was declined. Upon his return from Richmond, whither
he was carried a prisoner, in May, 1864, he assumed command of
the Second Division, Eighteenth Army Corps, which he commanded at the capture of Fort Harrison. In this desperate engagement
he captured two regiments of rebels with four pieces of artillery.
General Ord being wounded, Heckman took command by virtue
of his rank, and immediately ordered an attack upon a river battery, which, together with the garrison, was captured. This battery being found untenable (being covered by the rebel monitors),
he had it destroyed, and then abandoned it. After this he operated against an annoying Fort, situated between Forts Harrison and
Gilmore, but was unable to capture it. For the ability displayed in
these operations he was highly complimented by General Grant.
Major-General Weitzel being sent to that part of the field, relieved
General Heckman, who then took command of his old division,
with which he remained until the consolidation of the Tenth and




DISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERS-MINDIL.           843
Eighteenth Corps, when he was placed in command of the First
Division, Twenty-fifth  (colored) Corps, and soon after, General
Weitzel leaving for Fort Fisher, became commander of the whole
corps, then but partially organized. The task of moulding this
organization into effective form was one of great difficulty, but by
unceasing exertion, strict discipline, and the close personal supervision of the commander, success was finally achieved, the troops
becoming genuine soldiers in the broadest sense of the term. On
the return of General Weitzel, he appointed Heckman Chief of
Staff, which position he held until May 25, 1865, when, the war
being considered at an end, he resigned, and returned to his home.
He subsequently received a Major-General's brevet, to date from
the capture of Fort Harrison.
General Heckman is a man of fine personal appearance, and possesses great physical activity and powers of endurance. Ordinarily calm and self-poised, his manner when excited is almost fierce
in its heat and violence. His voice is singularly loud, ringing and
sonorous, and in the noise of battle, his commands pierced the
tumult like the blast of a trumpet. While in the service, he had
one passion, but it was rather harmless than otherwise, being simply a passion for music. His flute was scarcely less precious to him
than his sword, and many a weary hour was solaced by its soothing murmurs.  Perhaps it was this very passion which led him
into the thickest of every combat, wooed by the music of screaming shell and whistling ball.
BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE W. MINDIL.
General Mindil entered the military service of the United States,
when only eighteen years of age, as First Lieutenant of Company
B, Twenty-third Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, in July, 1861,
being promoted to the Captaincy in October following, and remaining with the command until March, 1862, when he was assigned to
staff duty with Brigadier-General David B. Birney, commanding
Second Brigade, First Division, Third Army Corps. During the
Peninsula campaign, he served with distinction, not only on the




844           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
staff of General Birney, but in more responsible capacities-at
Williamsburg leading the decisive charge of the day, and winning
the applause both of General Kearney and his immediate commander.  At Fair Oaks, he again distinguished himself, " his superior intelligence and activity," in the language of the commander of
the brigade, " being manifest everywhere." In the withdrawal of
Kearney's Division from its position in front of Richmond, Mindil
was selected to mask the movement, which he did with such skill
as again to secure honorable mention, with an invitation from General Kearney to accept a position on his staff. Upon reporting to
that officer, he was assigned as Inspector of the Division-a position in which he displayed the highest soldierly abilities and won
the approbation of some of the best officers in the service. About
this time, Captain Mindil was strongly recommended by Generals
Kearney, Berry, Hayes, Egan and others for a position in the
Regular Army-another paper, signed by Generals McClellan
Heintzleman, and others, urging his appointment to a field officer's
rank. In the battles of Pope's campaign, he shared all the perils
of the field-at the second battle of Bull Run being the only military aid of General Kearney who was present for duty-a fact
which the lamented officer gratefully acknowledged in his last official report. Upon General Kearney's death, Captain Mindil, after
accompanying the remains to New Jersey, was assigned for duty
at Army Headquarters, being subsequently-when McClellan again
took the field-left with others in charge of the Washington office.
In October he was offered command of the Twenty-seventh New
Jersey Regiment, and accepting the position, at once reported for
duty at Newark. The Twenty-seventh, under his leadership, upon
reaching the field, soon established a high reputation for efficiency
and drill, and during its whole term of service, both in the East and
West, enjoyed the fullest confidence of its superiors. Its record,
as given elsewhere, is the highest compliment which can be paid to
the courage: intelligence and ability of Colonel Mindil.
Upon the expiration of the term of service of the Twentyseventh Regiment, Colonel Mindil proceeded to Washington with
a view of securing employment, but while there was called to the




DISTINGUISHED  GENERAL OFFICERS —MINDIL.                   845
command of the Thirty-third Regiment, then forming at Newark.
With this regiment he proceeded to Tennessee, participating in the
movement against Atlanta, and in the subsequent March to the
Sea.  For his gallant conduct in the assault at Mill Creek Gap,
and his meritorious services in the battle of Chattanooga, Colonel
Mindil received, although  not until some time  afterwards, the
brevet rank of Major-General.  At Savannah, he was a second
time recommended for a full Brigadiership by Generals Sherman,
Howard  and  Geary.'   Before the  answer came, however, the
Carolina  campaign  was opened, and  as the commander of the
Second Brigade, Second Division; Twentieth Corps, Colonel Mindil
took the field. In that campaign his brigade took an active part,
in skirmishing with the ever-retreating enemy, and in the destruction of the railways and bridges throughout the State. During
the obstinate engagement at Bentonville, in North Carolina, every
spare soldier was needed by Slocumr  to restore and hold his lines,
and to Colonel Mindil, with his small brigade, reinforced by the
First Michigan Engineer Regiment and a pontoonier battalion, was
assigned the duty of conveying to a place of safety the immense
wagon trains of his corps. Despite the horrible condition of the
roads, his meagre topographical information of the country, and
the harassing demonstrations of the enemy's cavalry, he succeeded
in bringing the entire trains in safety to Goldsboro on the same
day that the army arrived. For this service especially, and for his
In calling General Sherman's attention to Colonel Mindil's claims for immediate
promotion, General Howard says: "At the battle of Chattanooga, and subsequently,
Colonel Mindil has shown himself to be an able and efficient officer, and well qualified
to command troops. In the management of his regiment he proved himself to be a
thorough disciplinarian, and during the Knoxville campaign, he ably commanded a
brigade with yourself."
General Geary in his recommendation, said: "The Colonelis one of the most accomplished tacticians and drill officers in my division, and wherever he has been engaged
in action with the enemy, he has exhibited a high degree of coolness and courage.
Before his connection with this army, he served with distinction as Assistant Adjutant-General on the staff of the gallant and lamented Kearney, and in other positions
during the Peninsula campaign in front of Richmond. I therefore recommend him to
your consideration for promotion to Brigadier-General, believing him worthy of this
mark of recognition."
On the 5th of January, 1865, General Sherman approved of the promotion, and the
papers were forwarded to Washington for the action of the proper authorities.




846          NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
" good conduct during the campaign," his name was forwarded for a
brevet by Generals Geary, Mower, Slocum and Sherman-the document also meeting the approving signature of the LieutenantGeneral. Mr. Lincoln had already determined to give him  the
full rank on the Savannah recommendation, when his regretted
and untimely death intervened, and the brevet rank and an assignment in accordance therewith, was accordingly at once granted by
the Department of War.
In the closing campaign of the war to Raleigh and beyond,
which ended in the surrender of the remaining armies of the Confederacy, General Mindil commanded the First Brigade of his
division. He participated in the grand review of Sherman's army
on the 22d of May, and remained in command of a force consisting
of most of the old regiments of the famous " White Star Division,"
in the vicinity of Washington, for some months after Kirby
Smith's surrender. General Mindil should have received his first
star long before he did, but he was far away in the Western army,
and disdained to use the political influence which would have
aided him and could have procured it for him at home. The fact
that he was recommended for the full rank of Brigadier in 1863
and at the termination of every subsequent campaign in which he
participated, and that Mr. Lincoln intended to confer the rank,
having been made known to the authorities at Washington, the
next highest rank above was cheerfully granted him, and his
" Major-Generalship," in justice to his services, was dated back,
being granted for his gallantry at Chattanooga, Mission Ridge
and Mill Creek Gap. General Mindil left the service August 2,
1865, after four years of constant duty, and resumed his former
mercantile pursuits in Philadelphia.
BRIGADIER-GENEPAL GEORGE W. TAYLOR.
George W. Taylor, who gave his life in defence of the country,
was a native of Hunterdon County, in this State, and early exhibited a predilection for military pursuits. Graduating, at the age of
eighteen, at the celebrated military school of Colonel Allen Par



)ISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERiS-TAYLOR.         847
tridge, in Connecticut, he entered the navy as a midshipman and
made several cruises-subsequently, however, resigning and engaging in mercantile pursuits. But the love of adventure and excitement had not been entirely banished from his nature, and when
the Mexican war broke out his military instincts and native patriotism incited him to raise a company of volunteers, of which he was
commissioned Captain, and which was offered to the Government,
accepted and ordered to Mexico, where it arrived in time to
endure some fatiguing marches and many hardships, but too late
to participate in any of the battles. Upon the outbreak of the
rebellion in 1861, Captain Taylor was one of the first to respond
to the appeal for troops-at once engaging in the formation of companies and inciting the people of his county generally to patriotic
action. This done, he made preparations to leave home, with his
horse and arms, with a view  of offering himself as a volunteer
upon the staff of some General already in the field and at the post
of danger. He was, however, arrested by the unexpected, and so
far as he was personally concerned, unsolicited offer by Governor
Olden, of the Colonelcy of the Third Regiment, then in process of
formation. Unhesitatingly accepting the commission, Colonel Taylor at once addressed himself to the task of reducing his new levies
into a state of discipline, and on the 8th of June, 1861, accompanied
them  to Washington, where with the rest of the brigade they
reported for duty and were stationed in the forts or advanced as
pickets near Washington. On the 21st he assisted, with the other
Jersey regiments, in checking the disgraceful flight from Bull
Run and rendered other efficient service. Upon General Kearney
being assigned, in the following spring, to the command of
a division, Colonel Taylor, being  the senior officer, became
Acting Brigadier-General of the First Brigade, and was subsequently  (June 10, 1862) promoted to that rank. He commanded the brigade during the battles of the Peninsula, dis.
playing in all the most indomitable courage.  Returning with
the army to Alexandria, he was sent forward (August 27th) to
Bull Run Bridge, with a view of moving up to Manassas Junction
and dispersing a rebel force reported to be at that point.  Upon




848          NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
reaching the field, however, the command found itself confronted
by the entire corps of Stonewall Jackson, and being violently
assailed, was compelled to fall back with severe loss. In withdrawing, General Taylor was severely wounded in the leg, and being
carried to Alexandria, died, on the 1st of September, from the
effects of the amputation of the limb-his spirit remaining firm
and undaunted to the last.
As a soldier, General Taylor's prominent characteristics were
courage, intelligence, and inflexible devotion to duty. As a disciplinarian, he was stern almost to harshness, and for a time was, on
this account, far from popular with his command. In personal
manners he was haughty and reserved, seldom unbending from
his lofty mood even among his intimates; but under all the hard
crust throbbed a nature at once passionate and noble-a nature
which scorned injustice and held unyieldingly to convictions
honestly and deliberately formed. Had his life been spared, he
must have attained a high rank among the Generals of the Union
army, in which, whatever its misfortunes, courage and unselfish
patriotism always commanded generous and certain applause.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL WILLIAM S. TRUEX.
General William S. Truex entered the service as Major of the
Fifth New Jersey Regiment on the 21st of August, 1861, and
served with that regiment until the 7th of March, 1862, when he
was promoted to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy of the Tenth Regiment.
On the 7th of July following, he was appointed Colonel of the
Fourteenth Regiment, which left the State on the 2d of September
of the same year, proceeding to Monocacy, Maryland. On the
20th of January, 1863, he was assigned to the command of Frederick City and the troops in that vicinity, consisting of a battery of
the Fourth Artillery (regulars), a battalion of the Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry, the Third Delaware and the "Purnell Legion"-a
Maryland regiment.  He remained in this position for some
months, when he was sent with the Fourteenth New Jersey and
One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Pennsylvania, to open communi



DISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERS-HALL.            849
cation with Harper's Ferry, which was considered at the time a
very hazardous task, but which he successfully performed. His
regiment was then brigaded, and after the battle of Gettysburg,
joined the Army of the Potomac, participating in the battles
of Wapping Heights, Locust Grove, Wilderness, Spottsylvania,
North Anna, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Monocacy, Snicker's Gap,
Charlestown, Opequan, Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek,
Petersburg (second assault), and Sailor's Creek. General Truex
commanded a brigade in the Wilderness, at Spottsylvania, North
Anna, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Monocacy, Petersburg (second
assault), Sailor's Creek, and at Lee's surrender, being wounded at
Cold Harbor.  He was appointed Brigadier-General by brevet on
the 15th of June, 1865.
During the Mexican war, General Truex served as Second Lieutenant of the Tenth Infantry, and consequently brought to the
command of the regiments with which he was identified in the late
war, an amount of experience and knowledge which rendered his
services peculiarly valuable. In action he was always cool, brave,
and self reliant, while as a disciplinarian he possessed qualities of
the highest order.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL CALDWELL K. HALL.
General Hall, born in Philadelphia on the 10th of March, 1839,
was, at the time the war broke out, a practicing lawyer in Trenton,
whither his father, Rev. John Hall, D. D., removed in 1841. Entering the military service as Adjutant of the Fifth Regiment, August
28, 1861, he was made Acting Assistant Adjutant-General of the
Second New Jersey Brigade, under Colonel S. H. Starr, filling that
position for some nine months.  Upon the accession of BrigadierGeneral F. Patterson to the command of the brigade, Hall. was
transferred to his staff as Aid-de-camp, serving as such for three
months. He participated in the battle of Williamsburg and the
Peninsula campaign; and on the termination of the latter, was
relieved from duty with that army, accepting (August 25, 1862)
the Lieutenant-Colonelcy of the Fourteenth Regiment, then being
107




850           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
raised at Freehold, under command of Colonel William S. Truex.
This regiment soon after joined the Eighth Army Corps and was
stationed at Frederick, Maryland, being employed in guarding the
railroad and picketing the neighborhood, in apprehension of a
rebel invasion. After some months service at this point it was,
subsequent to the battle of Gettysburg, incorporated with the Army
of the Potomac, with which it remained during the rest of its term
of service. Colonel Hall was continually on duty with the regiment, participating in all its battles till the battle of Monocacy,
when, being wounded, he was sent to hospital at Baltimore, and
(September 21, 1864) was honorably discharged the service on
account of disability from the wounds received in that action. He
was subsequently brevetted Colonel "for gallant and meritorious
services at the battle of Cold Harbor," and Brigadier-General for
"gallant services" at Monocacy.  Upon quitting the field, he
resumed the practice of the law in Trenton, and in February, 1867,
was appointed by Governor Ward as Prosecutor of the Pleas for
Mercer County. His record was throughout honorable to himself
and the State with whose sons he went afield.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL E. L. CAMPBELL.
This brave and efficient soldier enlisted as a private for the three
months' service on the 18th of April, 1861, assisting on that day
to organize a company, of which he was elected Captain.  The
company being accepted by the authorities, was ordered to Trenton,
but was not mustered in, the brigade being declared full, whereupon the men returned to their homes-Campbell, however, enlisting as a Sergeant in a three years' regiment. Being shortly after
offered a Captaincy in the three years' service, he in seven days
recruited a company which was mustered into service May 28, 1861,
as Company E, Third Regiment Volunteers.  Captain Campbell
served with this company until August, 1862, when Colonel Brown,
commanding the Third, placed him on duty as acting LieutenantColonel of the regiment.  Having been  meanwhile appointed
Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifteenth Regiment, he soon after ten



DISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERS-CAMPBELL.    851
dered his resignation in order to accept the new commission, but
General Franklin declining to act upon it, being unwilling at
that time to spare any efficient officers in his division, Campbell
remained with the Third until after the battle of Antietam, when
(September 22, 1862) his resignation was finally accepted, and he
was mustered in (September 27th) as Lieutenant-Colonel of the
Fifteenth.  He served in this rank, commanding at various times
the Fifteenth, Third, Fourth and Tenth Regiments, as well as the
brigade, until February, 1865, when (having been brevetted Colonel,
October 19, 1864. for "conspicuous gallantry" at Cedar Creek) he
was appointed Colonel of the Fourth Regiment. February 22, 1865,
he was detailed by General Meade as Judge Advocate General,
Army of the Potomac, and served in that capacity until the army
was broken up, when he resumed command of his regiment in the
"Provisional Corps" which was formed under General Wright.
He was brevetted Brigadier-General, April 9, 1865, and mustered
out with his regiment in the field, July 12, being finally discharged
five days later at Trenton.
General Campbell was twice wounded-at Antietam, September
17, 1862, and Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864. During his whole
period of service he was never absent from the front, except for a
few days during the winter lull in operations, and for forty days
while suffering from his wounds. Of the original officers of the
First Brigade, from Kearney down, he was the last to quit the
field, except that Major Way, formerly of the First Regiment,
returned as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fortieth, while he (Campbell) was serving on the staff of General Meade.
As an officer, General Campbell was universally esteemed. Reticent and diffident in all that concerned himself, he was always vigilant and active in everything which affected the discipline and
welfare of his command, exhibiting, especially while attached to
the Fifteenth Regiment, the most paternal solicitude for the comfort
of the men, as well as the most untiring devotion to the work of
perfecting them in discipline and necessary homogeneity. In the
field, in time of action, he was fearless to a fault, and went about
the business in hand, however difficult and dangerous, as deliber



852           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
ately as if merely marshalling his men for review. Frequently
detached for special service requiring courage, coolness, and fertility of resource, he never failed to justify the expectations of his
superiors. But he was not an officer to " shine" alongside of selfseeking, scheming men, more solicitous to head the columns of
newspapers than columns of attack; his tendency was directly to
the opposite extreme; and he was no doubt less widely known
and appreciated than some who, by no means'his equals in merit,
yet managed by adroit manipulations of newspaper correspondents,
to obtain more frequent mention and a broader celebrity.
At the close of the war, after for a time filling a clerkship
in one of the departments at Washington, General Campbell was
appointed by Governor Ward as State Agent for the collection of
bounties due to New Jersey Soldiers, and in the performance of
the responsible duties of this position he is still engaged.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL CHARLES G. HARKER.
Charles G. Harker was born at Swedesboro, Gloucester County,
in 1835, and at the time he fell at Kenesaw  Mountain, had just
attained his twenty-ninth year. Both parents dying while he was
still young, several gentlemen of distinction interested themselves
in the orphan, finally securing his appointment to a vacancy in
the West Point Military Academy, where he remained for four
years, graduating with distinction in 1858. General Robert Anderson, who was one of the Board of Visitors appointed by the
President to examine the class of that year, declared at the time
that young Harker was a model of a soldier, and one who would
distinguish himself should opportunity offer-a prediction which
was fully verified. Entering the United States army as a brevet
Second Lieutenant of the Second Infantry, July 1, 1858, he was
promoted to a full Second Lieutenantcy of the Ninth Infantry, on
August 15, 1858. The regiment at the time was on duty on the
frontier, where he at once joined it and remained until the summer
of 1861, when he was detailed for special duty at a school of
instruction for volunteers in Ohio. While there, permission was




DISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERS-HARKER.            853
obtained from the Secretary of War allowing him to accept the
Colonelcy of the Sixty-fifth Ohio Regiment, and at the same time
he was promoted to a Captaincy in the regular line.
His brilliant career from that time to the day of his death is a
matter of history. Joining General Buell's Army of the Ohio, he
assisted in constructing the military road in Eastern Kentucky,
participated in the battle of Shiloh and siege of Corinth, and commanded a brigade of the force that chased Bragg out of Kentucky.
With his brigade he afterwards joined General Rosecrans' Army
of the Cumberland, and so greatly distinguished himself at the
battle of Stone River that his superior in command recommended
his promotion to a Brigadier-Generalship, which, however, was
not then complied with. At the close of the campaign he obtained
a leave of absence for twenty days, enabling him to make a brief
visit to his home in New Jersey. While here he expressed an
earnest desire to be connected with the troops of his native State,
speaking proudly of what she was doing for the suppression of
the rebellion. With his usual modesty, however, he objected to
his friends making any effort to have him promoted and transferred.
At the expiration of his only leave during the war, he rejoined
his brigade, assuming command as ranking Colonel, and took part
in the Tennessee campaign.  Under General Thomas he again
shone conspicuously at Chickamauga, receiving credit for being
largely instrumental with that officer in saving the army-his command at a critical moment standing immovable, and repelling with
heavy loss every assault of the enemy. Harker's courage, coolness
and discretion in this battle, are described by an eye-witness as of
the very highest order, almost approaching sublimity. Though
two horses were shot from under him, he personally escaped injury;
and, upon the second and stronger recommendation from his superiors, he received his commission as Brigadier, to date from that
battle.
At Mission Ridge, on the 7th of May, he had his horse killed,
and was slightly wounded. At Resaca, on' the 14th of May, he
was again slightly wounded, and had another horse killed under
him. In writing to a friend, after the fight at Resaca, he dates his




854           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
letter on the march, near Kingston, Georgia, May 22, 1864, and
says: " You are aware that the great Southwestern campaign under
General Sherman is in progress. Thus far. we have had several
quite severe engagements, in which we have been entirely victorious. In the battle of Resaca, on the 14th instant, I was wounded,
though not dangerously. I was struck on the leg by a shell, which
exploded immediately after passing me, wounding General Manson
and killing my own horse and that of one of my orderlies. It was
quite a narrow escape for me. My leg, though slightly cut and
painfully bruised, is doing well. I did not leave the field, though
unable to exercise full command, for about thirty-six hours. You
and my family will be glad to learn that I can walk and ride very
well now. I am able to discharge all my duties, and hope to be
able to conduct my brave little command, which has so nobly stood
by me in so many severe engagements, through the great struggle,
or perhaps series of struggles, which will doubtless ensue before
the fall of Atlanta. The result of the great battle before us cannot be doubted, though all of us cannot hope to witness the great
triumph which must crown the efforts of our magnificent army."
On the 27th of June, 1864, Sherman's Army assailed the enemy's
position on Kenesaw Mountain. Harker commanding a leading
column of assault, advanced, mounted (other Generals being
mostly dismounted), under the full range of the rebel fire-becoming a conspicuous mark for his sharpshooters.  While gallantly
encouraging his men, he was mortally wounded, and being hurriedly carried to the rear, soon expired, his last words being,'" Have we taken the mountain?"  His remains were subsequently
removed to New Jersey, and now lie interred amid the familiar
scenes of his early days.
General Harker was in all respects one of the truest and noblest
men, among all the many true and noble, who gave their lives in
defence of the Nation. With a character mellowed and strengthened
by a sincere and devout piety, his courage was no mere outcome of
vanity or self-seeking, but the result of a conscientious obedience
to the claims of obvious duty.  His military skill and ability were
universally recognized as of the highest order, while his influence




DISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERS-HARKER.            855
over his subordinates was exhibited on every field which he illustrated by his gallantry.  His memory, still fair and fragrant in the
lapse of years, will be faithfully cherished, we are sure, by the
State and Nation for which he nobly died.
New Jersey had other Generals than. those already named who
achieved distinction. George D. Bayard, who gave his life in the
Nation's service, early attained a place among the distinguished
cavalry leaders of the war, displaying the highest courage, no less
than superior skill and capacity in command, on every field.
Brigadier General Francis Price, who entered the service with the
first volunteer contingent, being then but a stripling, also achieved a
high and deserved celebrity as a soldier, being, indeed, in point of
personal courage the equal of the best and bravest in the army.
In a number of the engagements in which he participated, his gallantry won especial recognition from superiors, while among the
rank and file his uniform fidelity to duty secured him universal
respect. Of these, and others whose records are not here givenincluding Generals Joseph W. Revere, William R. Montgomery
and William Birney-it need only be said that they faithfully and
unfalteringly discharged every duty, and deserve to be remembered with gratitude as among the saviours of the Republic.




CHAPTER XLVI.
INSTANCES  OF  GALLANTRY.
THE careful reader of these pages cannot but have been struck
with the numerous instances in which high gallantry and soldierly
ability were exhibited by very young men. Indeed, the war and
its objects seem to have appealed with peculiar force to this class,
and of those who attained marked distinction and came out of the
strife as Generals and officers of exalted grade, at least one-half
were men below thirty years of age. This was, perhaps, but natural-the soldier's life and excitements having peculiar charms for
the adventurous spirit of youth; and possibly the same fact was
true of other States; at least we remember that among the earliest
martyrs of the conflict were young men like Ellsworth and Winthrop, and others no less noble, representing alike the East and the
West; but certainly in no State was the proportion of young men
who entered the service greater than in our own, many of our
regiments being almost exclusively composed of volunteers who
had barely attained their majority. Mindil, Bayard, Hall, Sewell,
Price, Zabriskie, Janeway, Tay, Ramsey, Yorke-these, with scores
of others whose deeds were equally illustrious-were all young
men, some of them  scarcely come to man's estate, and  all
rose by sheer and resistless merit. So among the rank and file,
many of the most deserving soldiers, many whose heroism embellished the grandest fields, and whose lofty, patient self-sacrifice
gave an almost royal splendor to the saddest scenes of suffering
and peril, were, as the world counts the years of life, mere boysbeardless striplings-whose lives, up to the day they went afield, had
coursed only in the calmest currents.  Hundreds of such-nay
thousands, bravely defending the flag under whose stars their
grandfathers nobly fought, fell in the carnival of battle; hundreds




INSTANCES OF GALLANTRY.                  857
still, maimed and scarred, meet us on our daily paths, living epitomes of that sublime instinct of nationality which lifted the nation
from the misty lowlands of barbarous self-seeking, to the broad
relationship with all the highest aspirations of humanity-the
serene heights of justice-where it stands to-day. The records of
these are epistles written in blood, which we may well send down
to coming generations as embodying the very loftiest and purest
teachings of the crucial period of our life as a nation.
Obviously, it is altogether impossible to record, in these pages,
all the instances of dauntless heroism, of wonderful achievement,
and of almost precocious skill which, in sifting the narratives of
our various regiments, have come to the author's knowledge.  We
can only select one or two as types of the whole body of similar
cases, and as such give them in evidence that New Jersey still has
sons who are worthy to rank with the noblest and best of her
younger Revolutionary patriots.
Among the many instances of youthful intrepidity and daring,
none, perhaps, exceeded in all the points of real sublimity those
which are furnished in the career of drummer William Magee, of
the Thirty-third Regiment.  This lad, for he was only a lad, entered the service at fifteen years of age-leaving a widowed mother
in the city of Newark-to aid in maintaining the unity of the
Nation. From the first he displayed qualities of the highest order.
Intelligent, fearless, vigilant, he was at all times an example
alike to superiors and inferiors. Though entering the service as a
drummer, he by no means confined himself to the duties of his
specific sphere.  He had a knack of fighting as well as drumming,
and withal exhibited an appreciation of the methods of warfare
which qualified him for the most surprising exploits.  One of these,
at least, was equal in splendor of execution and grandeur of result
to any which the history of the war records.  It will be remembered that in the fall of 1864, after Sherman had swung loose from
his base and started on his stately' March to the Sea," Hood
with an army of forty thousand men laid siege to Nashville, defended by General Thomas.  Here, for a period of two or three
weeks, our troops were penned up with little prospect of relief.
108




858          NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
At Murfreesboro, thirty miles away, General Thomas, reluctant
to relax his hold on the railroad to Chattanooga, had stationed a
small garrison under General Milroy. This garrison, as the rebels
gathered in greater force, beleaguering the post, soon became comparatively isolated, all avenues of escape being practically closed.
But the men did not lose heart. At length, on the 2d of December, it was determined to strike a blow for deliverance. At this
time, young Magee had become acting orderly to General VanCleve, and to him, youth as he was, the order was given to charge
the enemy. It may be that a smile accompanied the order-a
smile at the thought of committing such a work to a mere stripling; but it is certain that the confidence of the'commander was
not misplaced.  Taking the One Hundred and Eighty-first Ohio
Infantry, Magee sallied out of the works, and rushed upon a battery posted on an eminence hard by. The charge was made most
gallantly, but the fire of the enemy was resistless, and slowly the
column fell back. But the intrepid orderly did not for a moment
falter in his purpose. One repulse only stimulated his appetite for
his work, and accordingly, selecting the One Hundred and Seventyfourth Ohio, he again moved out, again charged the foe, again
met their withering fire; still, however, pressing on until at last the
victory was his.  And it was no ordinary victory.  Two heavy
guns and eight hundred of the enemy killed, wounded and captured, were the trophies which he brought out of the contest. Nor
was this all. This signal success at once dispiriting the enemy and
reviving the hopes of our own men, proved the first of a series of
victories which resulted, finally, in driving Hood from Tennessee
and restoring that whole section to Federal control.  The readiness
and gallantry displayed by young Magee in this affair very naturally attracted the attention of those around him, and he received
the hearty commendation of Generals Rosseau, Milroy, and other
officers in command. Subsequently he received a medal of honor
from the War Department, inscribed, " The Congress to drummer
William Magee, Company C, Thirty-third Regiment, New Jersey
Volunteers."
Upon the close of the war, the young hero was appointed by




INSTANCES OF GALLANTRY.                 859
the President Second Lieutenant in the Twentieth Regiment of
Infantry, being strongly recommended by Governors Ward and
Geary. The latter, in his letter to the War Department, spoke of
him from personal knowledge: " He served in my command, and
from personal observation I can speak unreservedly in his behalf."
Upon appearing before the Examining Board for examination,
Magee found that he was deficient in several studies-having never
enjoyed educational advantages-and much to his disappointment
he returned home, expecting to be obliged to abandon his cherished
design of entering the regular service. Governor Ward, however,
learning the facts in the case, succeeded in securing an extension
of the time for the final examination, and then, with characteristic
generosity, at once placed Magee in the care of capable instructors,
by whom he was soon fitted for a second appearance before the
Board-his progress, owing to his intense application to study,
being most rapid in all the branches in which it was necessary he
should acquire proficiency.  To-day, the drummer-boy,of the
Thirty-third, the hero of Murfreesboro, now only nineteen years
of age, wears the uniform of the regular service, and should our
flag ever again be assailed, we may be sure that among its brave
defenders he will not be the last to write his name high on the
scroll of fame.
Among the more conspicuous young men of the State, whose
careers illustrated the loftiest patriotism, none achieved a purer
fame than Major Peter Vredenburgh, of the Fourteenth Regiment.
Few men in New Jersey, of his years, were more happily situated,
or had brighter prospects for the future. His father, Honorable
Peter Vredenburgh, had for many years been recognized as one of
the ablest and purest Judges of the Supreme Court of the State.
He was himself, when the first echo of rebellion came from Sumter, in the full and successful practice of the legal profession at
Eatontown, in the county of Monmouth. But of Dutch descent
through both parents, with the blood of the gallant defenders of
Harlem and Leyden flowing in his veins, he could not remain at




860           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
ease when Liberty was assailed and the nation needed defenders.
The early disasters of the war, and the consequent calls for additional volunteers, appealed with peculiar force to his deep sense of
patriotism.  He was at this time but twenty-seven years of age,
but was a man in maturity, possessing strong intellectual capacities
and a marked independence of thought and character, united to a
hardy and robust constitution, formed by a moral and abstemious
life and strengthened by constant out-door pursuits.  In August,
1862, after mature consideration and under the solemn conviction
of his duty, he offered his life to his country.
The Fourteenth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers, was at that
time being largely recruited in his native county, and on the 25th
of August, 1862, he was commissioned Major in that regiment.
At this time he was entirely ignorant of military science and accepted with reluctance so high a commission. But his native talent
soon manifested itself.  Se mastered the duties of his position and
at once established for himself a character unrivalled in the regiment, as a capable and efficient officer. The greater part of the
first year was passed by the Fourteenth Regiment at Frederick
City, Maryland; about six months of which time, Major Vredenburgh acted as Provost-Marshal of that city, exhibiting in that
capacity marked executive ability.  On the 5th of September,
1863, he was appointed by General French, Inspector General of
the Third Division of the Third Corps, and acted as such on the
staff of General Elliot, until the 4thl of October, 1863, and then
on the staff of General Carr, who was appointed to succeed General Elliot, until the 4th of December following.  On the 11th of
December, he was made by General French Inspector General of
the Third Corps, then consisting of about twenty-seven thousand men.  As a staff officer, Major Vredenburg was particularly valuable.  His topographical eye was of wonderful accuracy, for one undeveloped by a military or engineering edu
cation.  His recklessness of life, his self-confidence, and his spirit
of enterprise in the performance of his duties, rendered his services
of incalculable importance. Towards the spring of 1864, the Third
Division of the Third Corps, to which Major Vredenburgh belonged;




INSTANCES OF GALLANTRY.                 861
was transferred to the Sixth Corps, he remaining at the headquarters of his division on the staff of General Ricketts. On May 4,
1864, General Grant commenced his final advance upon the enemy,
crossed the Rapidan and engaged the rebel army in its full
strength.  A  member of Major Vredenburgh's regiment in recounting the events of that day, says: " Our Major had done gloriously; all day he had been in the saddle; all day he rode backward and forward through the storm of leaden hail. Was there
an order to carry to that part of the division that wavered under a
galling fire of the enemy, who to carry it but young Vredenburgh?
Who could take it as well?  His eagle eye took in the field at a
glance. How our boys would shout as they saw him dashing with
the speed of an arrow from one end of the line to the other-for
lie rode swiftly; he was a splendid horseman." On the following
day, May 5th, and during the whole of that terrible campaign of
the Wilderness, at Crump's Creek and Spottsylvania, Major Vredenburgh distinguished himself by a courage amounting to apparent indifference to life, by address and by an active energy which
gave promise of the highest future usefulness.
At the battle of Cold Harbor, his conduct won him the highest
commendation of his superior officers. On that day his soldiers
gave him the significant title of " Commander of the Sixth Corps."
On July 7, 1864, the Fourteenth regiment having been withdrawn
from before Petersburg, with Colonel Truex's brigade, arrived again
at Frederick City, and crossing the Monocacy river on the day fol
lowing, fought almost alone the well contested battle of Monocacy,
Major Vredenburgh was at that time serving on the staff of Gen
eral Ricketts, and it was said by intelligent citizens who witnessed
the fight, that he exhibited more bravery than any man in the
field. In this fight, Lieutenant-Colonel Hall commanding, and
every Captain in the regiment, who successively took command,
were either killed or wounded. At this time Major Vredenburgh,
with most commendable zeal and self-sacrifice, asked to be restored
to his regiment.
After much marching and countermarching, at midnight on the
18th of September, 1864, the Fourteenth Regiment, now in com



862          NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
mand of Major Vredenburgh, marched from its works at Berryville in the direction of Winchester, and at Opequan, not far distant from this latter place, again engaged the enemy. At eight
o'clock in the morning, the signal being given, the Fourteenth,
with its Major at its head, charged the rebel foe, through a
galling fire of ball and shell. Before the charge Major Vredenburgh declared to his soldiers that he meant to lead them to the
enemy's intrenchments, enjoining them to rely on him-to keep
him in view and obey only his orders-and he gallantly led them
forward. This time death chose a conspicuous mark and singled
from that whole command the most noble victim. He was struck
by a fragment of shell and killed instantly. His last words were
" Forward men! Forward, and guide on me!"  A fitting close to
the life of a patriot martyr-a life without fear and above reproach.




CHAPTER XLVII.
CHAPLAINS  AND  SURGEONS.
No class of men connected with the army occupied a more
responsible and in some respects delicate position than the Chaplains. They needed to be something more than common men. No
man of reticent, haughty or churlish nature could fill acceptably
this sacred and responsible office. No man of easy virtue, who
compromised his official character by undue familiarity with the
vices of the camp, or wore his piety as a robe, to be put on or off
at will, could hope to command respect or exert a wholesome
influence.  The Chaplain needed to be sincere, genuine, sturdy; to
possess on the one hand the highest moral courage, and on the
other the kindliest spirit of brotherhood; ability so to rebuke as
that the very reproof should convince its object of his sympathy
and friendly concern; needed, in one word, to possess every Christian grace, and with them all a robust and hardy fitness for danger
which nothing could weary and nothing appal. Not only was it
the Chaplain's office to preach and pray; he was the counsellor,
guide, exemplar of the men; he was their nurse in camp and hospital, their cheery helper on the march, their supporter in the hour
of death. To him they came as to a father or elder brother with
all their troubles and complaints; from him they exacted continually confidential services; under him many were glad to march as
soldiers of the Heavenly King.  Could a man of narrow feelings,
with an empty life and a cold heart, fill such an office with satisfaction? Do men gather fruit from vines whose juices have dried
up and whose roots are dead?
It was fortunate for the efficiency and moral character of our
-New Jersey Regiments that their Chaplains were for the most part
men of genuine piety and profound devotion to their work. Some
were, indeed, vastly superior to others in all the elements of




864           NEWT JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
capacity and usefulness; but none, we believe, were wholly ineflcient or lacking in sympathy with the spirit of their calling.  Many
labored with a fidelity, an industry and a forgetfulness of self,
which challenged the admiration of all beholders, and made them
indispensable helpers in all the details of regimental duty. These
performed not merely the work peculiar to their office; they did
infinitely more, setting no bounds to their sphere of activity, and
shunning no service in which they could benefit the cause or contribute to the comfort of a brother.  The names of these faithful
servants of the Master of All need not be shrined, with special
honor, on these pages. They are known to thousands scattered all
abroad through the land, and written in shining letters where no
praise of ours could add to the lustre.  Obviously, those Chaplains
who served with the regiments of the First and Second Brigades
were exposed to greater perils and encountered severer labors than
those of some other commands; and all of these, without exception, were men of peculiar qualifications, as, in the recollection of
those with whom they served, they were men of rare fidelity and
zeal. One of these, recapitulating the services of the Chaplains
generally of our regiments, writes of them  as follows: "They
were self-denying men.  They looked after the spiritual and temporal wants of the troops, and supplied them to the full extent of
their ability. When needed at the hospital to assist in the care of
the sick and wounded, they were always ready; in the camp they
held religious services, often under many discouragements; wrote
letters for the men when needed, forwarded their money home after
pay-day, and in every way sought to be truly the soldier's friend.
Many built chapels, only to be compelled to abandon them; but
still the work went on. One Chaplain built, or assisted in building, four of these structures in two years, besides furnishing three
or four other roofless places with seats.  To build these chapelsfelling the trees and lifting them, green and heavy, into place, and
then, after furnishing them with seats, be obliged to leave them,
perhaps at the end of a week, was indeed discouraging-but such
was the Chaplain's life.  *  *  One of the last acts the Chaplains
performed was to collect our dead-buried here and there wherever




CHAPLAINS AND SIRGEONS.                          865
thev fell-into burying grounds, which were laid out and  fenced,
at points a mile or so in the rear of the most important battlefields. After disinterring the bodies, we put them in good strong
boxes and buried them at a proper depth, with a plainly marked
board at the head of each grave. This was one of the most satisfactory services we ever performed. In some cases, on account of
sudden movements, it was not wholly completed by all the Chaplains, but some of us got all our dead that could possibly be found
thus safely removed.  Not one of the Eleventh Regiment dead,
for instance, killed or dying from any cause during the last two
years of its service, was left unburied or his grave unmarked."
The total number of Chaplains serving with New Jersey regiments from first to last, was forty-seven. The list, as certified by
the Adjutant-General of the State, is as follows:
First Regiment-Robert B. Yard, William H. McCormick.
Second Regiment-Robert R. Proudfit.
Third Regiment-George R. Darrow, Joseph II. James.
Fourth Regiment-Norman W. Camp, Daniel A. Miles.
Fifth Regiment-Thomas Sovereign.
Sixth Regiment-Samuel T. Moore.
Seventh Regiment-Julius D. Rose, Edward J. Hamilton.
Eighth Regiment-A. Saint John Chambre, Henry B. Raybold, Samuel T. Moore.
Ninth Regiment-Thomas Drumm, John J. Carrell.
Tenth Regiment-Jacob B. Graw, George Lorin Brooks, Robert R. Proudfit.
Eleventh Regiment-Frederick Knighton, E. Clark Cline.
Twelfth Regiment-William B. Otis.
Thirteenth Regiment-T. Romeyn Beck.
Fourteenth Regiment-Frank B. Rose.
Fifteenth Regiment-Alanson A. Haines.
First Cavalry-Henry R. Pyne.
Twenty-first Regiment-Samuel Conn.
Twenty-second Regiment-Abraham G. Ryerson.
Twenty-third-William T. Abbott.
Twenty-fourth Regiment-William C. Stockton.
Twenty-fifth Regiment-Francis E. Butler; died of wounds received in action, May
3, 1863, John M. Robinson.
Twenty-sixth Regiment-David T. Morrill; dismissed.
Twenty-seventh Regiment-John Faull.
Twenty-eighth Regiment-Christian J. Page.
Twenty-ninth Regiment-Lester C. Rogers.
Thirtieth Regiment-John S. Janeway.
Thirty-first Regiment-John McNair.
Second Cavalry-Edwin N. Andrews.
Thirty-thirc Regiment-John Fa-ll.
Thirty-fourth Regiment-Archibald Beatty.
Thirty-fifth Regiment-Nathaniel L. Upham.
Third Cav alry-John H. Frazee.
Thirty-eighth Regiment-Charles R. Hartranfft.
109




866           NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Thirty-ninth Regiment-Edward D. Crane.
No Chaplains were appointed for the Thirty-seventh and Fortieth Regiments.
So far as the records show, the number of Surgeons from  this
State who were connected with the Volunteer service was sixtyfive, and of Assistant-Surgeons ninety three.  Nine Assistant-Surgeons from  New Jersey were also connected with the Regular
Army, while there were several others who served with the Navy,
in honorable positions. So far as evidence is at hand, it fully confirms the popular impression that, almost without exception, these
men performed their duties with intelligence, fidelity, and the most
praiseworthy zeal for the welfare of the service.  It is certain that
very many attained.high reputation, as well as exalted positions,
in the Army.  Doctor A. N. Dougherty, who went out as Surgeon
of the Fourth Regiment, became, before the close of the war, Medical Director of the Right Grand Division of the Army of the
Potomac, composed of the Second and Ninth Corps, thus reaching
a higher and more responsible post than was attained by any officer
of the Volunteer Medical Staff. Doctor Gabriel Grant, originally
Surgeon of the Second Regiment, early became Brigade Surgeon,
and after distinguished service with the army of the Potomac, was
made Medical Director of Hospitals at Evansville, Indiana, being
subsequently placed in command of the Madison United States
Army Government Hospital, at Madison, in the same State, where
at one time he had two thousand seven hundred and sixty patients
under his care.  While in the field, he was frequently mentioned
for meritorious conduct.  Doctor Lewis xV. Oakley entered the
service as Assistant Surgeon of the Second Regiment, New Jersey
Volunteers, May 21, 1861; was promoted to the Surgeoncy of the
Fourth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers, October 12, 1861, and
transferred to the Second Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers, as
Surgeon, January 2, 1862.  From  this date, he was Surgeon in
Chief of the First New Jersey Brigade, First Division, Sixth Corps,
until the expiration of his term of enlistment. He was in all the
battles of the Potomac Army, from the first Bull Run down to Coal
Harbor, and frequently performed arduous hospital duty, having




CHAPLAINS AND SURGEONS.                   867
charge of the Sixth Corps Hospital in May and June, 1863, and
also at Gettysburg in the following July.  He was among the most
efficient and faithful New Jersey Surgeons, and enjoyed from first
to last the confidence and esteem of his superiors.
Among other Surgeons who deserve honorable mention are J.
Theodore Calhoun, Joseph D. Osborne, J. Andrew  Freeman, William W. Bowlby, W. W. L. Phillips, Edward L. Welling and John
J. Craven-the latter of whom, entering the service as Surgeon of
Runyon's Brigade in April, 1861, remained on duty until long after
the close of the war. Subsequently passing the Board of Army
Surgeons, he was made a Brigade Surgeon, and assigned to duty
with General H. G. Wright's Brigade, composing a part of Sherman's Expeditionary Corps.  Accompanying this expedition, Doctor Craven was (in February, 1862) made Chief Medical Officer of a
force commanded by General Wright, with which he proceeded to
Florida, being subsequently assigned to duty on Tybee Island,
Georgia, having medical care of all General Gilmore's forces then
investing Fort Pulaski. In September, 1862, having returned to
Hilton Head, he was made Medical Purveyor of the Department
of the South.  Here he remained, for a time filling the duties of
Chief Medical Officer and participating in the operations against
Forts Wagner and Sumter, until May, 1864.  He was then made
Medical Director of the Tenth Corps, with which he proceeded to
Virginia, and in August was detailed as a member of a board for
the examination of hospitals in the Department of the East, returning to his post (in thirty days) as Medical Director, Tenth
Corps. He remained until January 17, 1865, when by special orders
he was assigned to duty as Medical Purveyor of the Department of
Virginia and North Carolina, with his headquarters at Fortress
Monroe, Virginia, filling at the same time the position of Chief
Medical Officer of that District, where he remained on duty until
December 16, 1865, when he was relieved fiom duty at that post.
While there he was the medical attendant of Jefferson Davis, then
a State prisoner. He was brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel (March,
1865) for faithful and meritorious services during the war.




APPENDED NOTES.
Tire record of New Jersey's partin the War for the Union, would be incolmplete without a reference to the sufferings of those of our troops who, falling
into the hands of the enemy, were exposed to the horrors of the prisons in
which he confined his captives. Hundreds of our men suffered this sad experience, and not a few miserably perished under the privations and hardships to which they were subjected. The mortality at Andersonville, Georgia,
was greater than at any other point, and the horrors of that death-pen will
never be forgotten by any who there felt the full measure of rebel cruelty.
The story of the atrocities there inflicted upon Union prisoners has been often
told, but its repetition will never be in vain, so long as it shall tend to keep
alive in the public mind a just appreciation of the value of the Union, which
could only be saved at such fearful cost.
It is, of course, impossible in a work of this character to do anything more
than barely refer to the cases of a few of the Jerseymen confined in the prisons
of the Confederacy. One of the most conspicuous instances, though not involving the actual physical suffering experienced in very many others, was
that of Major H. W. Sawyer, of the Second Cavalry. Major Sawyer entered
the service early in April, 1861, joining one of the first companies which left
Pennsylvania for Washington. Subsequently, he became one of General Stone's
scouts, but applying for service with the New Jersey troops, was appointed a
lieutenant in the Second Cavalry, with which he served with marked distinction. In the battle of Brandy Station, June 9, 1863, being then a captain, he
was taken prisoner, and after remaining a short time at Culpepper, was carried
to Richmond, and placed in Libby Prison. Here he remained undisturbed
until the 6th of July, when, all the captains among the prisoners were summoned by General Winder from their quarters into a lower room of the prison.
No exchanges having taken place, the men generally supposed that they were
to be paroled and sent home. But no such good fortune awaited them.
Instead of receiving an order for their release, they were informed that an
order had been issued by the Rebel War Department, directing that two captains should be selected by lot from among the prisoners, to be shot in retaliation
for the execution by General Burnside of two rebel officers, who had been
detected in recruiting within the Union lines. The consternation occasioned
by this announcement may be imagined. They had hoped for release, and




APPENDED NOTES.                            869
here was an order which in a moment clouded the whole prospect. Escape of
course, was impossible; the drawing was inevitable. After being formed in
a hollow square, a slip of paper, with the name of each man written upon it,
and carefully folded up, was deposited in a box, whereupon Captain Turner
informed the men that they might select whom  they pleased to draw the
names, the first two names drawn to indicate the men to be shot.
Captain Sawyer, who alone seemed to retain his self.possession, suggested
that one of the chaplains be appointed. Three of the chaplains were called
down from an upper room, and the Rev. Mr. Brown, of the Sixth Maryland,
accepting the task, amid a silence almost deathlike, the drawing commenced.
The first name taken out of che box was that of Captain Henry Washington
Sawyer, of tire Second New Jersey Cavalry, and the second that of Captain
Flynn, of the Fifty-first Indiana. When the names were read out, says the
Richrmond Dispatch, " Sawyer hcard it with no apparent emotion; remarking
that some one had to be drawn, and he could stand it as well as any one else.
Flynn was very white and much depressed."  The drawing over, the prisoners
were returned to their quarters, the condemned, meanwhile, proceeding
under guard to the headquarters of General Winder, Provost-Marshal-General.
Here they were warned not to delude themselves with any hope of escape,
as retaliation must be and would be inflicted, it being added that the execution would positively take place on the 14th, eight days hence. Sawyer,
however, desperate as the situation seemed, did not despair, but reflecting
that if by any means his situation could be brought to the knowledge of the
Government, he might still be rescued, he asked permission to write to his
wife, which being granted on condition that the authorities should read the
letter, he immediately wrote the following, which none other than a brave
and true-souled man, thus standing in the very shadow of death, could pen:
PROVOST-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
RICHaMOND, Virginia, July 6, 1863.    {
MY DEAR WIFE:-I am  under the necessity of informing you that my
prospect looks dark.
This morning, all the captains now prisoners at the Libby military prison,
drew lots for two to be executed. It fell to my lot. Myself and Captain
Flynn, of the Fifty-first Indiana Infantry, will be executed for two captains
executed by Burnside.
The Provost-General, J. H. Winder, assures me that the Secretary of War
of the Southern Confederacy, will permit yourself and my dear children to
visit me before I am executed. You will be permitted to bring an attendance.
Captain Whilldin, or uncle W. W. Ware, or Dan, had better come with you.
My situation is hard to be borne, and I cannot think of dying without seeing
you and the children. You will be allowed to return without molestation to
your home. I am resigned to whatever is in store for me, with the consolation that I die without having committed any crime. I have no trial, no
jury, nor am I charged with any crime, but it fell to my lot. You will proceed to Washington. My Government will give you transportation to Fortress Monroe, and you will get here by a flag of truce, and return the same
way. Bring with you a shirt for me.




870              NEW  JERSEY  AND THE REBELLION.
It will be necessary for you to preserve this letter, to bring evidence at
Washington of my condition.  My pay is due me from the 1st of March,
which you are entitled to. Captain B- owes me fifty dollars-money lent
to him when he went on a furlough. You will write to him at ont:e, and he
will send it to you.
My dear wife-the fortune of war has put me in this position. If I must
die, a sacrifice to my country, with God's will I must submit; only let me see
you once more, and I will die becoming a man and an officer; but for God's
sake do not disappoint me. Write to me as soon as you get this, and go to
Captain Whilldin; he will advise you what to do.
I have done nothing to deserve this penalty. But you must submit to your
fate. It will be no disgrace to myself, you, or the children; but you may
point with pride and say, " I give my husband;" my children will have the
consolation to say, "I was made an orphan for my country."  God will provide for you, never fear.  Oh! it is hard to leave you thus. I wish the ball
that passed through my head in the last battle would have done its work;
but it was not to be so. My mind is somewhat influenced, for it has come so
suddenly on me.  Write tome as soon as you get this; leave your letter open
and I will get it. Direct my name and rank, by way of Fortress Monroe.
Farewell! farewell! and hope it is all for the best. I remain yours until
death.                                            H. W. SAWYER,
Captain Second New Jersey Cavalry.'
After penning this letter, with a conflict of feeling which we may well
imagine, Sawyer and his companion were returned to prison, where they
were placed in close confinement in a dungeon under ground. Here they
were fed on corn-bread and water, the dungeon being so damp that their
clothing mildewed.  The 14th came at last, but still they remained unmolested. Sawyer had estimated aright; his letter had saved him from the
rebel clutch. Immediately upon receiving it, his true-hearted wife hastened
to lay the matter before influential friends, and these at once proceeding to
Washington, presented the case to the President and Secretary of War, who,
without delay, directed that General Lee, son of General Robert E. Lee, and
General Winder, son of the rebel Provost-KMarshal-General, then prisoners in
our hands, should be placed in close confinement as hostages-General Butler being at the same time ordered to notify the Confederate Government that
immediately upon receiving information, authentic or otherwise, of the execution of Sawyer and Flynn, he should proceed to execute Winder and Lee.
This action, prompt and unmistakable, and the more significant, perhaps, to
the enemy, because of General Butler's known resolution of purpose, produced
the desired effect. Sawyer and Flynn were not executed. After remaining
1 The Richmond Dispatch, of July 7, said:-Sawyer wrote a letter home, and read it
aloud to the detective standing near. Upon coming to the last part of it, saying,
"Farewell, my dear wife, farewell, my children, farewell, mother," he begged those
standing by to excuse him, and, turning aside, burst into tears. Flynn said he had no
letters to write home, and only wanted a priest.




APPENDED  NOTES.                             871
twenty-one days in the dungeon to which they were consigned, they were
relieved and placed on the same footing as other prisoners. Still, however,
the Richmond papers vehemently insisted that the execution must and would
take place, and the fate of the condemned remained for some time longer a
matter of speculation and doubt.  But the days lengthened into weeks; the
winter passed, and at length, in March, 1 864. the prison doors were opened,
Sawyer being exchanged for General Lee. The satisfaction with which the
brave Captain once more walked forth a free man, and found shelter under
the old flag, was such as only a man comnig from death into life-from dismal bondage into joyous and perfect liberty —can ever experience, and none
other, certainly, can appreciate.  It should be added, that Captain Sawyer,
after this sad experience as before it, fought gallantly and effectively for the
good cause, coming out of the war a Major, and with scars more honorable
than the highest rank.
Of the escapes of Jerseymen from  Southern prisons, of which there were
many, those of Lieutenant Fowler, of the Fifteenth Regiment, and Lieutenant
J. M. Drake, of the Ninth, were undoubtedly  the most remarkable and
romantic. Both wandered for weeks in the mountains of North Carolina and
Tennessee, often pursued, and continually exposed to the greatest perils; but
both found friends and helpers, and finally, after almost incredible sufferings,
reached our lines in safety. Fowler was once recaptured, but again escaped,
and is to-day faithfully serving the country in the Regular Army, while Drake,
with no shadow of the old peril on his face, still lives to do battle for the principles for which he nobly suffered.
II.
The following facts, not elsewhere stated, are supplied from the office of the
Adjutant-General, and are given here as of permanent interest and value.
The number of commissions issued during the war to organizations in active
service was 3,981.  The total amount of money transmitted from the troops in
the field to their families at home, under the supervision of Colonel Jonathan
Cook, was $2,275,989, as follows:-$262,052 in 1862; $962,196 in 1863;
$812,892 in 1864; and $238,849 in 1865. The amount of money paid by the
State to soldiers and their families, was as follows:
Deceased and, discharged-1861, $23,651.10;  1862, $26,341.15; 1863,
$141,f31.61; 1864, $237,745.10; 1865, 126,471.67: total, $555,840.63.
Families and dependent mothers-1861, $78,773.10; 1862, $362,369.35;
1863, $523,723.23; 1864, $380,463.05; 1865, 416,204.62; total, $1,761,533.95.
Total Disbursement, $2,317,374.58.
By Joint Resolutions of the Legislature, approved March 27th, 1866, an
Honorable Testimonial was directed to be issued to all soldiers honorably discharged, or the heirs of deceased soldiers who have served in New Jersey
Regiments; also to residents of New Jersey, honorably discharged fiom regiments of other States, United States regular army, navy, or colored troops, on
forwarding their discharges. Thousands of these testimonials have already
been distributed, men of all ranks justly prizing them as a recognition of
faithful service.




872             NEW  JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
The whole number of casualties among New Jersey Officers during the war
was as follows:Officers killed in action, 107; died of wounds, 45; died of disease, 30;
drowned 4; died in rebel prison, 3; total, 189.
III.
Brief reference has elsewhere been made to the efficiency of the Adj~ antGeneral's Department during the war. During the whole period of the rebellion, this office had the entire charge of the clothing, subsisting, lodging,
arming, equipping and transporting of the troops furnished by the State, and
throughout, this vast work was performed with a fidelity and a regard to
economy, which deserves the highest praise. In the matter of clothing and
equipments, this department exercised especial care, contractors in all cases
being held strictly to the fullest performance of their stipulations. In the
purchase of supplies, the same scrupulous care was exercised, while in all controversies arising with the general Government, as to the claims of the State
for reimbursement of moneys expended by it on war account, General Perrine
uniformly exhibited the very highest appreciation of the responsibilities of his
position. Never shrinking from any labor, proving always judicious in counsel and trustworthy in action, this officer deserved far higher and more general approbation at the hands of the supporters of the war than he receivedas those who were most intimately associated with him in duty will unanimously and most cordially attest.
IV.
No mention is made in these pages of the services of Jerseymen who were
connected with the navy during the war. There is one name, however, which
must not be passed in silence-that of Commodore Boggs, whose exploits in
the capture of New Orleans, ranked him among the naval heroes of the age.
Commodore Boggs was, perhaps, as sturdy and indomitable a sea fighter as
the war produced, and Jerseymen may justly rejoice in his fame, alike as a
patriot, and a king among those who "go down to the sea in ships."